The food delivery sector has accelerated growth during the pandemic. According to research by Momentum Works, this service GMV in six Southeast Asian countries will reach $11.9 billion in 2020. In Indonesia alone, the total value has reached $ 3.7 billion or equivalent to 52 trillion Rupiah – dominated by two big players, Grab and Gojek, respectively holding 53% and 47% of the total market share.
In addition, this achievement actually contributed only 1% of the potential for food delivery in Indonesia, which value is projected to reach $61 billion by 2019. The main indication is that the players’ penetration is still focused on big cities, while the business in tier-2 and tier-3 has not been much optimized.
Momentum Works’ CEO Jianggan Li said, most of the growth in food delivery services that occurred in 2020 was permanent. Given the trend of digitalization and changes in consumer behavior towards digital.
“We are optimistic about the prospects for food delivery services in Indonesia, although it will likely take several years before this sector can be massively adopted. Food delivery service players need to have a long-term strategy to take advantage of opportunities in this enormous market optimal,” he said.
Growth factors
The main factor that makes Indonesia the largest food delivery service market in the region is none other than the large population in this country. The 2020 census data states that Indonesia’s current population is around 270.20 million people. Of the total, 27.94% were Gen Z and 25.87% were millennials. In addition, it is also supported by several other factors such as economic growth, urbanization, and smartphone penetration.
The research also highlighted several steps taken by the players to achieve long-term profitability and sustainability. The platform needs to control acquisition/retention costs, maintain unit economics, and generate additional revenue which could include advertising, financing, and other B2B services. The option is based on a successful case study of Meituan, one of the major food delivery services in China. In Q2 2020, the company reached a net profit of up to $420 million.
Meanwhile, from the consumer’s perspective, some things that are taken into consideration when choosing a food delivery service include the number of choices, speed, quality/reliability, and cost. According to Momentum Works, each player must (at least) excel on the two factors, because leading across all of these variables is said to be impossible.
Explore the potential
Apart from Indonesia, some of the major food delivery service markets in Southeast Asia are in Thailand ($2.8 billion), Singapore ($2.4 billion), the Philippines ($1.2 billion), Malaysia ($1.1 billion), and Vietnam ( $0.7 billion). Research also states several potential strategies that can be implemented to increase the value of these business transactions each year. First, focus on increasing the transaction volume of the upper middle-class consumer segment.
Second, reducing costs to compensate for low food prices and order values. Then it is also important to increase digital literacy, therefore, merchants (restaurants, food stalls, SMEs, etc.) can easily adapt with the delivery platform. Eventually, players should dare to invest in the infrastructure needed to drive service adoption in tier-2 and 3 cities.
Grab and Gojek have been seen executing this strategy in Indonesia, one of which is realized through the cloud kitchen initiative. The shared kitchen allows SME partners to find it easy to sell their products, as well as expand the market; because basically, various productive facilities are provided and integrated into the super app ecosystem of each service. On the consumer side, it also allows them to get more food choices with lower delivery costs.
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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian
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