GoTo Will Not Monopolize Indonesia’s Digital Market

The results of the Gojek and Tokopedia merger that presented GoTo are said to not dominate the digital market in Indonesia. On the contrary, it will encourage the strengthening of the digital economy in Indonesia, especially the MSME sector.

In the future, the presence of GoTo is predicted to create the competitiveness of the digital economy in facing foreign digital products and platforms. Like Shopee and Grab, companies from China and Malaysia who are taking part in Indonesia’s digital market.

Head of the Center of Innovation and Digital Economy Indef, Nailul Huda, assessed that the collaboration between Gojek and Tokopedia will strengthen their respective businesses.

He hopes that in the future the market will expand and economic activities through the GoTo Group ecosystem will be more efficient. Then, the strategy developed by GoTo will provide many benefits for the MSME sector and also for its consumers.

“When a company succeeds in forming a complex and varied ecosystem, the impact of economic valuation will increase. With a high valuation value and a strong ecosystem, GoTo’s business fundamentals are also getting stronger,” he said, Friday (21/5/2021).

GoTo Needs to Keep Up with Competitors

He assessed that the GoTo Group also guarantees the long-term sustainability of its business. Even though in the future GoTo needs to continue to compete with their respective competitors.

For example, Gojek still has to compete with Grab as well as new competitors in the same field such as Bonceng, Anterin, Maxim, and others. Meanwhile, Tokopedia is currently competing in the e-commerce business with Shopee, Lazada, Bukalapak, JD.ID, Blibli, and others.

According to Nailul, it is too far to equate GoTo’s presence in Indonesia with Alibaba Group’s dominance in China which then creates a monopoly.

“For GoTo, this collaboration will increase the ability to compete at the ASEAN and domestic levels which will be tighter,” he said.

Competing with Imported Goods

Nailul added, the biggest concern of the digital economy in the e-commerce sector is dumping activities that are carried out by selling goods from abroad at low prices so that it can make Indonesian business actors, especially MSMEs, surrender.

He highlighted the type of e-commerce consumer identified as price-oriented consumer, meaning those who are eyeing goods with low prices.

“Imports will still be a threat. There are also many Indonesian sellers but sell imported goods. They import from regular logistics and continue to be sold again at low prices,” he said.

Nevertheless, Nailul hopes that the government can provide solutions so that local MSMEs can compete with imported goods. Local products are less competitive in terms of price because they are related to production capacity which affects production costs

“For example, batik from China can be very cheap, IDR 30 thousand, while batik from Indonesia is sold for IDR 90 thousand to IDR 150 thousand. Logistic distribution is also included. Shipping costs from China are cheaper to Jakarta than costs from Sidoarjo to Jakarta. This must be resolved as well as the problem of inefficient shipping costs,” he said.

Gojek Announces Benefits for Club Members

A multi-service platform, Gojek announces various benefits that will be obtained by its users who join GoClub. In GoClub, there are four membership levels that can be achieved by users, namely Residents, Bosses, Skippers, and Children of the Sultan.

At the Citizen level, users will get a special price for subscribing to GoPlay by simply spending IDR 20 thousand. At the Boss level, you will get free crowd rates and GoPlay subscription prices by simply paying IDR 10 thousand.

For example, when ordering food when it’s crowded, the price that the user gets is the normal price. Then, at the Juragan level, you will get an additional cashback benefit of up to 100 percent.

The highest-ranking, Anak Sultan will get additional free tickets from GoTix, and become a priority customer in various Gojek services.