Jakarta’s traffic-clogged economy gets a lift from motorbike deliveries
JAKARTA: Three years ago, Ferly Aninditya’s stall at a Jakarta food court was losing money.
Deterred by the Indonesian capital’s paralysing traffic, few customers were prepared to come to him.
But that was before he teamed up with Go- Jek, the ride-hailing motorbike service that delivers everything from meals and groceries to cleaners and hairdressers across Jakarta, all at the touch of a smartphone app.
Now Aninditya owns a chain of small restaurants with seven thriving branches that send Indonesianstyle fish and chips by Go-Jek’s army of motorbike riders across Jakarta.
“I’ve come this far in part because of Go- Jek,” said Aninditya.
“It’s not just sales, but they also helped by spreading our brand through the app.” Go- Jek has become a crucial workaround in a city with some of the worst traffic in the world.
The service’s riders can move goods and people faster around the city than cars, helping businesses increase sales dramatically as they reach more consumers.
Go- Jek, a play on the local word for motorbike taxis, ojek, was set up by Nadiem Makarim, a graduate of the Harvard School of Business and a former associate with McKinsey, who has quickly become a poster child for start- up success in Indonesia.
The company, which counts China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd and the private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC as investors, has transformed Jakarta’s economy, economists say.
Bank Indonesia, the central bank, is studying that economic impact.
The bank’s chief fintech officer, Junanto Herdiawan, said data was still being collected, but the initial findings were ‘quite remarkable.’ He added: “It could be a gamechanger should society keep benefiting from Go- Jek’s services.” Sri Hartati, the head of the Jakarta government’s Economics Bureau, said Go- Jek has had a ‘big’ impact on consumption and trade in the city.
“It has changed people’s behaviour, that’s for sure.” The Indonesia Franchise association estimates its members saw revenue improve 30 per cent on average after using Go- Jek.
The Association of Hotels and Restaurants says Go- Jek has increased sales by 15-20 per cent for most of its 3,000 members in Jakarta.
Companies pay a percentage of sales to Go- Jek; Aninditya says he pays 15 per cent.
Eggi Banon, a 45-year-old beautician, signed up with the app this month and says she has already seen business increase.
“It turns out it’s more profitable working through an app, rather than waiting at my salon,” said Banon, who now hops on a motorbike and leaves the salon when clients order her services through Go- Jek.
Other companies supply cleaners or masseurs, or dispatch a dizzying array of products - flowers, medicine, movie tickets, cameras and eyeglasses.
A Go- Jek spokeswoman declined to say whether the company itself, which is not listed, was profitable.
Media reports put the value of the start-up at US$ 2 billion when a funding round started this year. — Reuters