Gojek to launch new offerings, focuses ads in residential areas

Gojek Singapore is expanding its range of services come 2021. According to Lien Choong Luen, general manager, Gojek Singapore, the ride-hailing company will be rolling out new features in its app by the first half of next year. This includes a transport platform for corporate businesses, as well as a more comprehensive range of mobility services for consumers that will enable consumers to book larger vehicles and taxis.

In a virtual press conference, Lien said the move to expand its services “makes a lot of sense” for the company, adding that it will be working with businesses to deliver a corporate solution for their employees with its new corporate transport platform. The plan for its new features comes as Gojek Singapore celebrates its second anniversary this year.

In efforts to reach out to more Singaporeans this year, Lien said Gojek Singapore has placed more ads around residential areas such as at bus stops and HDB lift lobbies, which display a promo code for new users. The choice of placing the ads around residential areas comes as Gojek sees a rising preference among commuters to travel to and fro such areas. According to a study by a team of academics from the National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University, who studied Gojek trip data from January to October 2020, residential areas are emerging as the new hotspots for commuters, and commuting distances have decreased due to travel becoming more confined to the neighbourhood.

According to Lien, the study also found that point-to-point transport services such as Gojek’s becomes a more worthwhile mode of transport for commuters, because they can save travel and waiting time, and benefit from affordable fares and on-demand rides.

In 2021, Gojek’s focus areas will continue to revolve around trust and safety, in line with a new way of living where hygiene, health and safety have become paramount. According to Lien, it will be rolling out even more safety features to assure commuters that the Gojek ride environment is the safest it can be.

Gojek Singapore has strengthened its marketing messages around safety since the start of COVID-19, according to Lien. These efforts include encouraging commuters to use cashless methods such as DBS PayLah! to pay for their rides, or reminding them to always have a face mask on while they are out, through channels such as the Gojek app and its social media pages.

“Gojek remains committed to the Singapore market and marketing will continue to play a strategic and critical role in growing the business,” Lien added.

Gojek Singapore’s second anniversary celebrations this year will also see the company dressing up a number of private-hire vehicles in its second-anniversary stickers, alongside a promo code for new users. Commuters will be able to spot the cars on the roads throughout December.

Gojek will also be partnering a virtual fun run titled "Chipsley's Virtual Run", which is organised by Pink Apple and one of Gojek's driver partner, Benny Tay. Gojek's involvement in the run will come in terms of participation and charity donation. For every kilometre clocked by a participant in the race, Gojek will donate SG$1 to non-profit organisation RSVP Singapore. The donation will go to supporting the empowerment of seniors as volunteers and improve the digital literacy of seniors in the community. Gojek will also contribute ride vouchers to all participants of the virtual run, as well as getting 300 of its employees, drivers and customers to participate in the run.

Despite the pandemic-hit era, Gojek services are currently generating positive margins on a product basis, indicating a strong path to its profitability. The company has seen stable growth throughout its business, underpinned by over US$12 billion in annualised gross transaction value, which is a 10% increase on the year before. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE understands that Gojek has currently approximately 38 million monthly active users across Southeast Asia, including Singapore. Meanwhile, its payments-related businesses have exceeded pre-pandemic levels as more consumers and merchants turn to digital services.

Earlier this month, Gojek launched a digital programmatic out-of-home (OOH) ad solution in Indonesia, GoScreen, through its ad business arm Promogo. Available in Greater Jakarta, GoScreen is said to be an affordable solution for brands, including micro, small and medium enterprises, to advertise on digital billboards on Gojek’s fleet of two-wheel vehicles.

According to the company, GoScreen enables brands to effectively reach specific audiences with customised content, through location and time targeting features, at a starting price of IDR10 million for 250,000 potential consumers. Gojek said brands can monitor actual impressions in real-time through an online dashboard and gain unique insights that will help them re-target relevant consumers.

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