Cashless Transactions Dominant for Grab & Go-Jek in Indonesia
Use of digital cash in transactions of ride-hailing and logistics services providers Grab and Go-Jek is becoming increasingly important. The management of Grab stated that cashless transactions (using smartphones tied to mobile payment systems) are now contributing more than half of the total value of transactions of Grab. Since the introduction of GrabPay, the value of cashless transactions recorded double-digit growth every month.
In November 2016 Grab also launched the GrabPay Credits, a tool that offers a new cashless stored value option allowing top-ups via a variety of widely available local funding sources to its GrabPay in-app mobile payment solution. The new tool has grown by a whopping average of 90 percent per month since its launch.
For the next eight months, up to end of 2017, Grab targets to see the value of GrabPay transactions doubling.
Meanwhile, a similar story applies to Go-Jek. Go-Pay (its cashless transaction system) is growing sharply and now also accounts for more than half of the total transactions value of the hyper-local transport, logistics and payments startup, the app of which has been downloaded more than 40 million times by the Indonesian people.
Piotr Jakubowski, Chief Marketing Officer at Go-Jek Indonesia, added the company remains eager to find new innovative solutions in line with the ongoing trend in the growing cashless society around the globe.
Transportation apps are highly popular in Indonesia as they provide a much-needed solution to the movement of people and goods across cities. What makes them popular:
- Public transportation systems in Indonesia are weak
- Convenient; you can be picked up from your desired location by simply using your mobile device
- The tariff is cheap and set in advance, implying it is in the interest of the driver to find the fastest route (any mistakes are borne by the driver, not the consumer).
Read also: The Life of an Expat in Jakarta: App-Based Transport Services