Gojek has announced a strategy that will see it prioritize its high-impact core businesses of payments, transportation and food delivery to ensure the company can weather the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, while securing its long-term future.
Since the pandemic began, Gojek has been pivoting its business toward accommodating new consumer habits. The company has worked closely with merchant partners to accommodate changes in demand, helping offline merchants quickly migrate their businesses online and implementing various initiatives to support the livelihoods of driver partners. New business areas have also been explored including the sale of everyday staple goods and “ready to cook” meals on GoFood and enhanced delivery services.
However, the pandemic has brought a wave of uncertainty and has fundamentally changed consumer habits as well as priorities. Consumer priorities have now become centered on health and basic needs, resulting in a significant downturn in non-essential categories, particularly those requiring close human interaction.
Kevin Aluwi and Andre Soelistyo, Gojek co-CEO said that COVID-19 had impacted Gojek’s business and presented a number of challenges, mainly the level of uncertainty ahead and the fact that this will forever change the way Gojek operates some of its businesses and products.
“We must respond to what's happening out there and increase focus on building a sturdy, more efficient business that continues to survive over time and remains relevant to the conditions at hand. Focusing on core services, stopping services that cannot survive in the midst of a pandemic, and making bold decisions to adjust to changing customer priorities will ensure we can always make a positive impact on the lives of millions of people and also ensure future growth,” Kevin and Andre added.
As a result, the company has taken the decision to sunset services that are no longer viable during this period such as GoLife, through which Gojek offers at-home services of massage and cleaning, as well as GoFood Festivals, Gojek’s physical food locations. These businesses are dependent on close human interaction, and have seen a significant downturn over the past few months as the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted consumer habits.
The sunsetting of these services will provide the company with resources to focus on the business areas where it has the most impact, primarily encompassing its three core services, but also the business areas that have seen success as a result of the pandemic such as deliveries, as well as partnership-based telemedicine and charitable giving offerings.
The closure of GoLife and GoFood Festivals, along with the streamlining of internal resources, have unfortunately affected 430 Gojek employees. Departing employees will be provided with benefits including enhanced severance payments, health insurance scheme extension and being allowed to keep their laptops to help with their future job search.
Gojek has grown exponentially since its app was introduced in 2015 to become a “superapp” with over 170 million users in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia. The company will continue to offer a broad range of services primarily by working with best-in-class partner organizations such as Halodoc and KitaBisa.
