Go-Jek Could Be Bringing Back Promo Codes & ‘Competitive Prices’ to S’pore

2018-12-24 , 11:35 am

When Grab finally managed to win the Uber-Grab war, Singaporeans weren’t that happy.

Because we’re expecting promo codes to be a thing of the past and more expensive rides.

Now, while the second thing didn’t come to past (technically) due to the Singapore government, the first did happen.

Instead of free promo codes that come on a first-come-first-served basis, they switched to a subscription-based partnership with FairPrice instead.

But wait.

If you feel this way, then you’re going to want to hear what we have to say.

Or rather, what Gojek has to say.

Gojek: “We Will Bring In Competitive Prices”

If you’re wondering what Gojek’s entrance is going to be like when they enter Singapore, it’s probably going to be pretty big.

After all, they said (pretty confidently) that they’ll come in guns blazing. Or, I directly quote, “competitive pricing”.

“Our strategy for launch is to make sure we are constantly acquiring customers through the right mechanisms… and that could be through promo codes (and) vouchers.”

Keywords here, promo codes and vouchers.

Grab Says They Won’t Respond But Experts Say Otherwise

Previously, Grab said that they will not engage Gojek in a price war. Instead, they’ll be focusing on bringing “long-term” benefits for their customers.

Analysts, however, said that Grab might have no choice. Especially when they see their customers jumping ship to Gojek.

It really depends on how serious Gojek is taking the Singapore market.

Recently, my colleague has been seeing lots of Gojek ads. In the programmatic advertising industry (i.e. those online banner ads in websites or apps), it’s most expensive to advertise at the end of the year as there would be many media buys by businesses to push their Christmas / CNY sales. Suffice to say, Gojek is really spending a lot.

Gojek Looking To Go Into Delivery, Shared Rides & Larger Vehicles

Besides ride-hailing services, Gojek has shown interest in the delivery and food business here in Singapore.

They’re also looking to offer shared rides and trips on larger vehicles.

Looking at the services Gojek has in Indonesia which includes laundry, grocery shopping and even cleaning services

You can be sure that Singaporeans are eagerly waiting to see what they have to unveil for us.

But one thing’s for sure though

It’s a Battle on Two Fronts

It’s not just about getting enough customers to order rides from them. It’s also about getting enough drivers to drive for them.

And Gojek is fully prepared to go all out on that as well.

Besides trying to enter partnerships to reduce rental and fuel costs for drivers, they’re also looking at providing incentives to drivers through a points system.

Drivers who accumulate 30 points will be given a $310 daily incentive, and those who hit higher targets will get weekly earning top-ups as well.

Provided they maintain an 85 per cent performance rating, that is.

You’re going to have a good time when Gojek first comes in.

Gojek began trials at the end of last month and is expected to fully offer their services to Singaporeans early next year.

They said they will not be implementing dynamic pricing in the first few weeks of operations in Singapore.

Yes. No surge pricing, baby!

And depending on what they observe out of having no dynamic pricing, it could become a permanent thing.

Nice.