In the Hype of "Sharing Economy", Gigel Introduces Baby Equipment Rental Marketplace

It begins with Muhammad Syahdani and Putri Arinda experience as a married couple, they are then founded the baby equipment rental named Gigel. The platform offered lists of products for young couples with newborn children, such as baby walker, stroller, toys and many more.

The CEO, Syahdani told DailySocial, the high demand and big potential of this business has made its services quite popular, particularly in the Greater Jakarta. Earlier this year, Gigel also aggressively expanded its service coverage and rental marketplace business model. Currently, it's not only baby's products but they also rent such items as winter jackets, travel luggage, and cameras.

"We present all items by partnerships with merchants across Jabodetabek. We also have a strategic partnership with GoSend for shipping and payment using GoPay digital wallet," Dani said.

Gigel claims to have 500 partners, 30 thousand registered users, and 15 thousand active users. It's currently available in the Greater Jakarta, this year Gigel has plans to expand services to other large cities. "Currently, we are still preparing things to expand to Bandung. Our target for Gigel to launch in Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Bali this year," he added.

Challenge for rental marketplace

One reason to create Gigel is that there are no local players dominating the business model. While the trend among millennials who prefer the concept of sharing economy and smart buying, become a great opportunity to be further developed. In addition, there are other rental services, such as Cumi.id, and Sevva which was renamed into nyewain.com.

Arinda's thought as the CMO, is that there is countless problems in purchasing goods for the needs of mothers and children, that could end up useless and costs money. With the rental concept, Gigel offers users the freedom within a certain period of time to use a product.

"We currently have angel investors and have no plan to raise funds. Still focusing on traction and serving more users, it is expected this year to add more products for users," she added.

Most (60%) of the products rented are Gigel's personal inventories. However, to grow the business and reach more users, they decided to add a variety of products from partners interested in renting goods. Gigel also requests a deposit with all user requirements and agreements are determined by the merchant.

In terms of future consolidation with other players or be willing to be acquired with a larger marketplace, is possible, it all depends on the current conditions and agreements. For now, Gigel, with 30 of its team, is still focused on developing the business and expanding.

Part of Gojek Xcelerate's third round

As part of the effort to develop business, Gigel is incorporated with Gojek Xcelerate acceleration program. In accordance with the program's current theme, which is daily consumer innovation, it is expected that Gigel to gain more insight as well as open access to Gojek's ecosystem network.

"We see the program and speakers by Gojek Xcelerate very compelling, practical and fit the needs in developing startups at this early stage," Dani said.

Inviting mentors from Gojek's internal team and curriculum specifically created for this accelerator program, Dani also realize the insights from during the program were similar to the conditions of the current Gigel business.

"I think one of the important and useful lessons for me and Gigel is the strategy planning and problem analysis taught by the McKinsey consulting team," he added.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian