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Housemaid agencies see stiff competition from online services
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A cleaning service employee cleans the Garuda Pancasila statue in Jakarta. (Antara/Rosa Panggabean)
J
akartans increasingly prefer to have their houses cleaned by staff from online cleaning services instead of conventional temporary housemaids, widely known as infal, service providers say.
One of the affected infal providers is the Dwi Asih Foundation in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta.
“Apparently the online services have gained ground on us in terms of popularity. There's been a drop in infal orders from the beginning of July to only around 120 orders from 150 last year,” Dwi Asih owner Jasman Tedjo Pamungkas told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
He said the biggest reason for the falling numbers was a lack of promotion and advertising.
However, another infal provider, Siska Bina Lestari Foundation, insists online cleaning services are an innovation but not a threat.
“It is a competition to be better at serving customers. To survive, traditional housemaid providers have to also use online advertisements,” the foundation’s owner, Khodijah, said, adding that he had similarly registered a drop to around five orders per day from nearly 10 in 2015.
Conversely, online service providers are on the rise this year thanks to increased usage of Android- and IOS-based smartphones with dozens of apps.
The Post reported earlier that providers like tukangbersih.com and Sapulidi Professional had received mounting orders while live-in housemaids are away for the Idul Fitri holiday.
During Idul Fitri, tukangbersih.com recorded around 20 orders a day, from 15 on normal days, while Sapulidi sent staff to around 15 houses in the city per day. (adt/dic)
