Gojek Sets Eyes on Intercity Delivery as The Next Big Target

There are probably very few Indonesians who weren't aware of Gojek. Getting popular as a two-wheeled transportation option, Gojek is already present in 75 cities and is likely to continue to expand. The ride-hailing service is still top of many services it offers. However, one thing that is quite promising is logistics. Gojek has at least two businesses engaged in logistics, GoSend and GoBox.

In a general note, logistics have been directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, not all segments were hit, some actually gained positive results. Fortunately, Gojek's logistics business is on the last stop of the supply chain.

"Go-Jek is lucky with the ecosystem that we have created in the last mile and we seek an increase in the demand for home delivery," Junaidi said.

Junaidi is Gojek's Head of Logistics. He also led JX, a fruit logistics company for the Gojek joint venture with JD.ID. Junaidi told DailySocial his views on the industrial situation during a pandemic, challenges, and strategies for dealing with it.

Significant increase

Basically, Gojek's logistics business relies on GoSend and GoBox. Unlike passenger pick-up services, GoSend is already available in every city where Gojek is operating. There are three delivery options based on duration and distance. Meanwhile, GoBox has a wider range of services. It can be found in cities from Sumatra to Sulawesi.

As Junaidi said, there are so many challenges in the logistics industry. The problems that exist in this industry cost a lot even in regional areas. President Joko Widodo said that the logistics cost in the country has reached 24% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or the equivalent of IDR 3,500 trillion.

Junaidi said that his team focused on the interests of micro, small and medium enterprises (UMKM). In addition to the large numbers, he also added, MSMEs have relatively smaller resources than corporations to take care of the expensive logistics.

During the pandemic, Junaidi noted a significant shift in the logistics business. Those who play in B2B, such as export-import to delivery from warehouses to shopping centers, have experienced declines in transaction. However, the delivery that serves the daily needs of the house continues to increase.

Junaidi avoids mentioning the growth number for his logistics business. However, Gojek previously announced that they had received around 120 thousand MSMEs during the outbreak. It's no surprise that this pandemic seems like a level-up test.

"We see this as an opportunity to ensure comfort, reliability, trust, as well as an opportunity to accelerate innovation," he added.

Connecting cities

One of the challenges Gojek keeps facing is intercity shipping. In fact, Gojek has come up with the GoSend Intercity feature. In this feature, Gojek collaborates with Paxel to ship goods from Jadetabek to Bandung and vice versa.

However, Junaidi added that this feature has also expanded the delivery range to other cities such as Solo, Yogyakarta, and Semarang. The ambition to deliver Gojek between cities has also begun to be implemented outside Java.

"In a simple way, for example, there are people going back and forth from Bandung to Jakarta, why not just collaborate," said Junaidi.

Junaidi admitted that Gojek would not be able to realize this ambition alone. That's why they created a special platform that allows middle mile players to form a connected network. That's why Paxel involved in this feature.

This delivery system will allow delivery within Java in just one day. Gojek is also working on whether a delivery outside Java can take a day.

"For example to Manado or Sorong, it might possible to be delivered the next day. We are currently developing to realize that," he concluded.

Junaidi emphasized thatintercity delivery is one of his division focuses until the end of this year. If the issue of intercity delivery, especially outside Java and vice versa, can be solved, Gojek can become a new game-changer.

– Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian