Viewed as Grab’s prime competitor in Singapore, Go-Jek claims to succeed not only in its core service of ride-hailing but also in expanding itself to on-demand services.
Go-Jek sets itself in motion as a ride-hailing app for motorcycle taxis in Indonesia but today, it has expanded to provide on-demand services and moved into the fintech space with its payment services. Propped up by renowned financiers such as Google, Tencent and even Temasek Holdings, Go-Jek’s prospects in its expansion efforts into the Southeast Asian markets is seen to be very promising.
Besides bringing value to consumers and businesses, Go-Jek also provides supplementary working opportunities for freelancers and stay-at-home workers.
But according to Russell Cohen, operations head of its closest rival, Grab, Go-Jek’s Southeast Asian expansion has made “no impact” on the number of deals and drivers on Grab’s system. “We’ve seen no impact on our rides and our business has continued to grow,” Cohen was heard saying at a Grab media event. “It’s still early days obviously, but we’re very focused on what we’ve been doing all along, which is ensuring customer quality and safety and being relevant to our users. There are lots of competitors in each of our markets so we treat this no differently,” he added.
Singapore-based Grab claims to join forces with 8.5 million ‘micro-entrepreneurs’ across the region. Of these, 4 million are drivers and the rest are traders and agents, including a small part that belongs to Indonesian firm Kudo’s network. The company which claims to have the region’s biggest land transportation fleet, also asserts that it has already completed over 2.5 billion rides since its launching in 2012.
Among Go-Jek’s strengths is their capacity in gaining and assimilating profound and wide-ranging market knowledge before entering a market. This includes hunting for local partners with interests and proficiency in a specific sector in order to gain robust traction in that segment . There have been conjectures about a possible collaboration with Singapore’s major taxi player – Comfort Delgro. For Go-Jek, partnering with powerhouses is a strategic move to advance the overall value of the organization’s service provision while expanding into other sectors.