top of page

Fierce ride-hailing market in Vietnam: Grab starts making billions in profit, putting pressure on competitors, Gojek loses nearly 6,000 billion before "giving up"

By the end of 2023, the total loss of 4 businesses participating in the technology-based ride-hailing game will reach 14,000 billion VND.


According to an announcement from Gojek, on September 16, the Indonesian ride-hailing company will close its operations in Vietnam after 6 years of doing business there. This unit said that the parent company, GoTo Group (Indonesia), made this decision when re-evaluating its presence in the market to optimize growth. This decision is to consolidate business operations and is in line with the company's long-term growth strategy.


"We will provide the necessary support to all affected parties throughout this transition while complying with applicable laws and regulations," Gojek representative added.


Gojek sincerely thanks all employees, users, driver-partners, and restaurant partners who have accompanied Gojek in Vietnam. The company is committed to supporting stakeholders throughout the transition process while complying with current regulations and laws.


Gojek withdrew from the Vietnamese market amid fierce competition from long-time rivals Grab and Be. In addition, it is worth mentioning the appearance of billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong in the technology-based ride-hailing market with the electric taxi company Xanh SM covering the whole country in just over a year.


The Indonesian ride-hailing company has been losing market share to rivals in recent years.


According to the report "The Connected Consumer Q1/2024" by Decision Lab, YouGov's exclusive partner in Vietnam, Grab is still the most used car company by Vietnamese people, but its market share has been strongly competed by two domestic companies, Xanh SM and Be, while Gojek has been pushed down to a lower position.


The report also showed that 48% of Vietnamese people choose Grab when using transportation services, Xanh SM rose to second place with 32% and Be at 24%, while only 22% of users regularly use Gojek. A few years ago, Gojek occupied a higher position but has been pushed back in the context of more competition in the market.


With the loss of market share, Gojek's business results are also somewhat less positive. In 2023, before the appearance of GSM, the company's revenue dropped sharply to about 200 billion VND, while its competitors all brought in more than a thousand billion. Grab is still showing its "big brother" position when bringing in more than 4,000 billion VND, the largest in this field in Vietnam.


Gojek's 2023 loss suddenly dropped sharply to only VND250 billion compared to the record of nearly VND1,400 billion in 2022, while low revenue showed that since last year, this ride-hailing company has started to stop "burning money". According to our data, by the end of 2023, Gojek had accumulated losses of nearly VND5,700 billion over the past 6 years.


Both Grab and Gojek have accumulated losses of several trillion VND. However, the difference is that Grab has started to make a profit, even a profit of a trillion VND in 2023.


According to Business Times (Singapore), Gojek Vietnam accounts for less than 1% of GoTo's total transaction value in the second quarter of 2024. Therefore, withdrawing from Vietnam will not affect the company's financial situation.



Gojek first launched in Vietnam in August 2018 under the name GoViet, providing GoBike (motorbike-hailing) and GoSend (delivery) services. Just two months later, the company expanded to include the online food ordering service GoFood.


By August 2020, the GoViet brand was officially replaced by Gojek Vietnam, with the identification color and driver uniform changing from red to green, black and white, similar to the parent company.


Gojek had previously pulled out of Thailand in 2021. GoTo is now focusing on its home market and Singapore. In Indonesia, Gojek's gross transaction value (GTV) and number of completed orders in Q2 2024 increased by 18% and 24% year-on-year, respectively, to an all-time high.


In Singapore, Gojek saw its market share increase by 3 percentage points in the last quarter. Known for its high average order value (AOV), the market continues to be a key focus for GoTo.


About Gojek, this is a famous unicorn startup in Southeast Asia, founded in 2010 in Jakarta, Indonesia with a starting point of only 20 motorbike drivers. In 2015, the Gojek application was launched in the Indonesian market, providing 3 motorbike booking services (GoRide), delivery service (GoSend) and shopping service (GoMart).
This Indonesian startup was once valued at over $10 billion before merging with e-commerce platform Tokopedia to form GoTo Group in May 2021. To date, this application provides more than 20 convenient services, connecting more than 170 million users with more than 2 million driver partners and 500,000 restaurant partners and is present in 5 markets in the Southeast Asian region.

(antt.nguoiduatin.vn)



Comments


bottom of page