Exclusive | Improved hygiene, contactless deliveries and mobile payments surge will be lasting legacy of Covid-19, says Gojek co-CEO

Gojek, Indonesia’s largest start-up, said that ride-hailing and transport services around the world have been severely affected by Covid-19 while food delivery has been more resilient – although consumer demand and merchant needs are constantly shifting.

“Consumption has shifted, there’s more interest in ready-to-cook meals now and we’ve been helping to deliver people’s favourite meals in this format,” said Kevin Aluwi, co-founder and co-CEO of Gojek in a recent interview with the Post. “Many merchants have historically relied on foot traffic, and so we’ve been helping them to adapt to the new circumstances with different initiatives, online events and promotions.”

Founded a decade ago as a motorcycle ride-hailing call centre in Indonesia, Gojek has since evolved into a super app, offering a suite of over 20 services with over 170 million users in Southeast Asia. The region is often seen as the next big e-commerce market to crack after China, with a population of 650 million who are relatively young and increasingly willing to shop and transact online, reminiscent of China’s consumer demographics less than a decade ago.

Gojek, which competes head-to-head with Singapore’s Grab across Southeast Asia in ride-hailing and food delivery, recently held promotions in Indonesia, such as national culinary day, to help its merchants better market their goods to the country’s diverse mix of cultures and ethnic groups.

“In Indonesia, there are many different kinds of dishes and flavours,” said Aluwi. “At Gojek we are very much about helping the long tail of small ‘mom and pop’ stores which comprise around 90 per cent of our orders, as these operators lack the sophistication of big chains.”