Indonesian Unicorn, Gojek on customer expansion and retention via alternative payments

Indonesian unicorn GoTo Group has been speeding up digitalisation with their end-to-end solutions that help businesses to go online and digitalise FAST. Having recently launched the website, “melajubersamagojek.com” to provide advice to business owners, helping them accelerate their digitization process, they have over 500,000 merchants in their ecosystem, 90 per cent of whom are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

We asked Pratyush Prasanna, Head of Merchant Payments at GoJek his predictions and perspective on alternative payments and the impact on society at large. In this candid conversation, Pratyush shares the GoTo Group’s strategy, the potential impact of alternative payments on the financial ecosystem as we know it and the importance of customer privacy.

Pratyush, who has built a career as a payments expert, having spent time with Microsoft, Xerox and PayTm is driving innovation for the GoTo Group and believes “alternate payments will hugely impact societal change”.

So, Pratyush - can you tell us about how you see alternative payments as a means of customer expansion vs retention and how GoTO Financial is taking alternative payments to the next level?

Our internal study shows that customers always like to have options while paying online. Their preferences are affected by several factors, including ease of payments via a particular payment method or associated cashbacks or just the fact that the customer has a preferred bank account.

At the GoTo group (part of GoJek), customers’ wishes come first and foremost. We strive to provide the easiest methods by which customers can pay and therefore try and evolve to keep up with the emerging trends. Recently, we have introduced innovative payment options like PLAB (Paylater Akhir Bulan), Cicilan which help customers consolidate their payments or pay over a certain time period. We also introduced innovative payment solutions at stores like CPM (consumer presented mode). And as a licensed e-wallet, we aim to enable multiple payment methods.

What would be your view in Asia for alternative payments? Has it evolved from a financial inclusion opportunity for the unbanked of developed countries?

In Asia, we’ve witnessed how the region has led the world in payment innovations in the last decade. Whether it is the wallet-based companies in China or the UPI real-time rails in India or the QRIS payments in Indonesia. However the fact remains that a huge part of many Asians are still unbanked and transact in cash. Therefore, for the upliftment of society in general and to ensure better trickle-down of economic resources, alternate, mobile-based payments are essential. In fact, most of the bigger countries have started down this path and I believe alternate payments will hugely impact societal change later.

Why do you believe credit card schemes are still so powerful? Is it their infrastructure and payment rails, their network or the global trust they have earned? Or their ability to redefine and develop (eg B2B connect)?

Card schemes will continue to fulfil an important role in terms of connecting issuers and acquirers. They have built the infrastructure and the trust over decades. B2B payments are bank defined and for good reasons. Alternative payments are generally not considered as a “bank account” and indeed lack several key features which banks have like very low cost of money movement. The trend of banks becoming “neo banks” and increasingly encouraging users to pay via alternative payments. I think it is very early days yet when Alternative payments will broach into banking territory.

Fintech are gathering data on interactions such as conversations, notifications, confirmations, both on and offline. How do you utilize these insights into your business?

We have state-of-the-art models built around customer usage and payments, we’re cognizant of the power of these models but at GoTo we do everything with the filter of customer privacy. We ensure any modeling and insights respect the privacy of the customer data and prevailing local regulations. We realize that although we are the biggest player in both the consumer and merchant side, Indonesia is a huge market which allows multiple providers to function and thrive. With that principle, we want to open up the excellent experience we provide to other companies that provide digital payment infrastructure services like PPRO. We believe merchants and customers deserve a great experience and we will always strive to provide it to them whether directly via us or other partners.

What makes you excited to be a part of FinTech Connect?

Financial services have been a big part of technology innovation and digital transformation. In GTF, we aim to be the growth partner for our users by understanding the dynamics of the industry. FinTech Connect Asia brings together participants from various players in payment industries, which offer the opportunity to gain insights through exciting discussions. Always happy to be part of the forum and share updates on emerging payment technology through the lens of GoTo Financial, as we strive to continuously enhance our customer experience in efficiency, safety, and convenience.

Join Pratyush Prasanna on the All Star Panel: More ways than ever to pay for things – What will things look like in 2023? How much more will people be able to do with their money as a result of fintech innovations? on 13th October 2:30pm @ Fintech Connect