With the exit of Uber in the ride services market of Southeast Asia, Grab has become the number one leader in the region. However, this monopoly will not last very long. GoJek, the Indonesian ride-hailing, and multi-services platform announced its plan to spend $500 million for its Southeast Asia expansion. The countries the company will serve include Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. The populations and lifestyles in these countries are very different from the ones in Indonesia. This represents a significant challenge for the Indonesian company, who will need to understand its new markets before entering them. We used our audience analysis tool, Synthesio Profiler, to find out who are the consumers GoJek will have to adapt to market share.
GoJek
GoJek currently serves 50 cities in Indonesia. In this country, motorbikes are preferred over cars due to traffic in the major cities and the poor quality of roads in some regions. GoJek understood this need and outmatched its competitor Grab by offering primarily motorbike rides, in addition to the regular cab rides. They also differentiated themselves by providing other services such as household cleaning and at-home massages.
Who Are the Current GoJek Consumers?
According to our audience analysis, the typical GoJek rider is 18 to 34 years old. Most of them are married, with no children. They have a higher education level than the average Indonesian and mostly live in big cities. 28.7% of them live away from family and away from their hometown vs. only 11.4% of the total population of the country. Hence they are active travellers as they need to reconnect with their family and friends who are not nearby. It could also be related to their jobs, as 42% of them work in Sales, which often requires travel. In addition, they like to travel for leisure.
They love Facebook and Instagram and are using them nearly twice as much as the rest of the population. Facebook Messenger is their main messaging application. They use Twitter and YouTube significantly less compared to Facebook and Instagram.
Interestingly, those social media power users are big fans of new Chinese brands. 20.7% of them own an Oppo smartphone (vs. 12%) and 22% a Xiaomi smartphone (vs 12%). These are cheaper than Apple and Samsung devices, which are used less by this audience.
Entering New Markets
The first thing GoJek will have to focus on is to attract new customers by building brand awareness. By doing an audience analysis, we regrouped a large number of insights to understand the characteristics of the new markets to know how GoJek should promote their brand.
Socio-Demographic Characteristics
In Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines, the gender ratio is approximately 50-50 while in Thailand only 37% of females are interested in ride-hailing and taxis. The targeting will consequently be different as GoJek will have to captivate a male audience in Thailand. Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines are young markets, with at least 65% between 18 and 34 years old. They live in big and developed cities such as Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and Manilla. In Singapore, people using ride services are a bit older, with 23.6% between the ages of 35 and 44 years old. In all countries, they are mostly alums, who had access to higher education.
GoJek will probably adopt the same entry strategy as in Indonesia. That involves entering primarily in the big cities and adapting their message to a young and educated customer base in Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. In Singapore, they will need to appeal to a slightly older population, thus producing a different message.
Media Behaviour
Knowing that the media behaviours vary by country, GoJek will have to adapt their strategy appropriately. Compared to the general population in each country, people showing interest in ride-hailing services are highly connected. Our audience analysis revealed that 84 to 94% of them use Facebook on a regular basis. It would be an excellent idea for GoJek to reach their customers through Facebook by advertising on the platform or by partnering with them. In Singapore and the Philippines, the target segment also uses Instagram (69.3% and 48.2% respectively), and 17% show interest in Spotify. These two applications are not as popular in other countries. In Thailand and Vietnam, around 30% read People magazine, compared to very few in the other countries. It would be an opportunity for GoJek to gain visibility by advertising their services on these platforms.
General Behaviour/Interests
In the four countries, people interested in GoJek are travelling more frequently than the rest of the population, both domestically and internationally. They show interest in hotels and tourism. Partnerships with travel companies such as Airbnb or Agoda (their favourite travel services) would benefit GoJek.
They could also partner with airlines in Southeast Asia to boost brand awareness. AirAsia is the airline these consumers use the most. We can also see that at least one of the five favourite countries for travel of each country is Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand or the Philippines. Once they arrive in a country, they could use GoJek services as their primary method of transportation during their stay.
The vast majority of the potential customers shop online. This habit is far more developed than in the reference populations, with 63 to 74% in the target audience compared to 43% of the general population. Running banners on e-commerce sites could be effective. GoJek will also have to include different payment methods according to the countries. For example, in Singapore, some people would prefer to pay by EZ-Link, which does not exist in the other countries.
Brand Affinities
An audience analysis can also uncover the favourite brands of your target segment. In Thailand, the top 5 product brands are car companies. This shows that they care a lot about the type of car they ride in. An option for GoJek would be to promote the brands of vehicles used by the drivers and to add a premium feature for those who would like to ride in a luxury vehicle.
Before Uber’s departure, the demand was driven by the promotions that Grab and Uber were running. A lot of riders had both apps downloaded and decided which one they would use based on the prices and promotions they were receiving. Now that Grab has no significant competitors in the region, they have no incentive to give promotions, and the fares have already been rising. This will be an advantage for GoJek as people look for cheaper alternatives to Grab. If GoJek continues to strengthen their brand, they should attract a part of Grab’s current customers with lower prices and promotions.
Audience Analysis Summary
With our audience analysis tool, we uncovered a lot of the markets and consumers that GoJek would soon enter. This data can help GoJek attract customers and gain market share. Thanks to the broad audience size collected, we can make data-backed business decisions, from general aspects such as gender to the smallest details, including what type of pet they have. Want to find out more about our audience insights tool, Profiler? Request a demo today with one our audience insights experts.
