Indonesia had the largest food delivery service market in Southeast Asia in 2020 in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV), according to a report by venture capital firm Momentum Works. The GMV of the country’s food delivery services was US$3.7 billion, accounting for about 31 percent of the total food delivery value of Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia itself. The total GMV for the region was $11.9 billion in 2020, up 183 percent from the year before and exceeding the 91 percent growth rate from 2018 to 2019. “One of the reasons, which we all know, for this big growth was COVID-19,” Momentum Works chief operating officer Yorlin Ng said during a virtual press conference on Thursday.

“All of us at one point in time – or even now – are working from home, and some of us do not have time to cook, so we need to order food.” Multiservice app company Grab contributed nearly half of the region’s GMW with $5.9 billion, followed by its competitors Foodpanda, Gojek, Deliveroo, LineMan and Now. Grab has surpassed Gojek’s food service market share in both Indonesia and Southeast Asia in general. The report comes as many Indonesians face tighter mobility restrictions that limit the occupancy and operational hours of restaurants in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. The restrictions caused the number of visitors to retail and recreation locales, which include restaurants, to fall by 32 percent nationally from the typical level seen in the January to February period, according to Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports data from Jan. 24.

As more consumers ordered food from home, 750,000 small businesses joined Gojek’s GoFood delivery service last year, an increase of 50 percent from the year before, according to a company press release published on Jan. 22. GoFood, which entered the market in 2015, reported twentyfold growth over the last four years. The platform now offers more than 20 million food and beverage items. “All our efforts to help customers adapt during the pandemic, from developing technologies and educating [people about] health protocols [to providing] clear information and communication on our app, have borne fruit,” Gojek chief food officer Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo said. The food delivery service market grew rapidly because consumers were afraid of contracting COVID-19 at restaurants, said Bhima Yudhistira, an economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), on Thursday. Moreover, platforms and merchants were offering discounts to attract consumers. Bhima added that more people had started food and beverage businesses without dine-in services, selling their products solely on food delivery platforms. “The trend will keep rising, as there are currently mobility restrictions as well,” Bhima told The Jakarta Post. “Many are shifting their consumption from [dining in] at restaurants to delivery. So the trend tends to be high this year.”
Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2021/01/28/indonesias-3-7b-food-delivery-market-largest-in-region.html