250 million Indonesians have rapidly embraced the rise of ride-hailing apps to add convenience to their lives.

The three largest players in Indonesia – Go-Jek, Grab, and Uber – not only lower congestion on the roads by connecting drivers to multiple riders, they also offer food delivery, payments via e-wallet features, and almost any service you can think of on-demand.

These value-added features are possible thanks to each player’s treasure chest topped up with billions of dollars from venture capital funds and massive corporates like Alibaba, Honda, and SoftBank.

But which app do users in the archipelago actually prefer and why?

Indonesians judge their favourite ride-hailing apps

Consumer Pulse by ecommerceIQ is a new series that dives into the minds of consumers to translate their trends and habits into actionable business strategies.

The team conducted an online survey answered by 515 people (46 percent men, 54 percent women) in major cities in Indonesia – Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, to Papua – to find out which ride hailing application (Uber, Go-Jek and Grab) they use the most on a daily basis.

A general consensus is that price and number of promo codes are the two key factors that impact adoption in Indonesia, but, our results indicate otherwise.

The majority of respondents pointed to safety as the primary factor when choosing which ride-hailing application to use. It’s not hard to decipher when you consider Jakarta traffic and the thought of weaving through the streets on a high-speed motorcycle.

According to the Head of Indonesia’s Traffic Police Unit, traffic related deaths in the country have hit worrisome levels at roughly 30,000 per year – higher than crime related and terrorism caused deaths combined.

He also added that the number of traffic incidents in Indonesia is the highest among ASEAN countries.

“Think of the approximately 28,000 to 30,000 people who die on the road per year because of accidents. Compared to terrorism and crime (the difference) is huge,” — National Traffic Police Chief Royke Lumowa

Providers should focus on improving the quality of their riders and vehicles, protective gear and insurance policies to capture more users. Both online and offline elements should be considered during product development as they are equally crucial when it comes to consumer purchase decisions.

For added assurance to both passengers and drivers, the three major ride-hailing apps in the country offer insurance:

Go-Jek offers up to 10 million IDR ($751 USD) for death and 5 million IDR ($375,50 USD) for an injury.

Grab provides up to 50 million IDR ($3,755 USD) for deaths, and 25 million IDR ($1,877.50 USD) is given to users with severe injuries.

Uber provides the most; up to 100 million IDR ($7.510 USD) for deaths, and 10 million IDR ($751 USD) for the treatment.

In 2016, Grab Indonesia promoted a controversial ad campaign to highlight the importance of road safety and how standards in Indonesia can improve. Unfortunately, the images were too graphic and the video was removed but it succeeded in bringing awareness to safe driving practices.

The second most popular reason why people used one ride-hailing app over the others was (unsurprisingly) the ease of finding a driver (23 percent). The rest of the reasons are as follows:

Frequent promotions and discounts (22 percent)

Easy navigation within the app (16 percent)

Many payment options (5 percent)

Wide food delivery options (3 percent)

Helpful customer service (3 percent)

Loyalty rewards (2 percent)

Consumers also indicated that they’re not excited about e-wallet features. Unsurprising as there’s no widespread use apart from the apps own services.

Nevertheless, payments remain a priority area for senior management looking to build a super app like WeChat in China.

CEO and co-founder of Go-Jek, Nadiem Makarim, mentioned he wanted to separate Go-Pay from the Go-Jek ecosystem during an interview with CNBC,

“Payments will be our core focus in 2018, and it will become the year of Go-Pay leaves the Go-Jek app ecosystem and it goes online and offline and to start fulfilling its mission to be the number one financial inclusion tool for Indonesians to gain access to these digital goods and variety of financial services, that frankly they have been deprived of this thought.” — Nadiem Makarim

So which ride-hailing player wins Indonesia?

What’s the app used on a daily basis among our respondents?

First position goes to homegrown unicorn Go-Jek.

Working under the slogan, “Karya Anak Bangsa” (Made by Indonesians), the company has become a favorite among the survey respondents (56 percent) and Indonesians since its establishment in 2010.

The country’s first tech unicorn scaled from a call centre and fleet of 20 riders to more than 654,000 drivers in 50 cities.

Later entrants in the space benefitted from Go-Jek’s investments in marketing and awareness. Consumers, now educated about ride hailing and startups didn’t need to be persuaded too much to try a new option.

Grab placed second at 33 percent

Uber place last at 8 percent

3 percent of the respondents reported they don’t use ride-hailing apps at all

When considering these results, there are a few factors that impact the ranking:

First mover advantage (Go-Jek)

Largest reach in the country (Grab)

Time of entry into the country (Go-Jek October 2010 , Grab June 2014 , Uber August 2014 )

Location of the respondents

A couple of months ago, Grab announced its expansion to 100 cities in Indonesia, making it the dominant player in the country. Meanwhile, Go-Jek and Uber can be accessed in only 50 cities and 34 Indonesian cities, respectively.

Price and promos also carry more weight after the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation announced basic rates for all online car-hailing services; 3,000 – 6,000 IDR ($0.23 – $0.45 USD) per kilometer in the areas of Java, Bali, and Sumatra. For Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua, the rate is more at 3,700 – 6,500 IDR ($0.28 – $0.49 USD) per kilometer.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian government hasn’t announced any regulations for online motorcycle taxis. Based on eIQ research, rates vary between each app.

46 percent of respondents admitted they have two ride-hailing applications installed on their smartphones. 23 percent of respondents had three applications installed, 29 percent owned one application and 2 percent didn’t use any apps.

Final takeaway

It’s not difficult to understand why residents in each city prioritize certain features over others. Respondents from Semarang, Surabaya and Greater Jakarta value discounts and promotions more than any other option, probably because they have more access to transportation choices.

The KRL Jabodetabek (Jakarta Commuter Line) and TransJakarta in Jakarta; TransJateng and BRT in Semarang; and TransSuroboyo in Surabaya.

Based on the data collected, providing a helmet, hairnet, and insurance is a safety standard all ride-hailing apps should meet.

The other takeaway from this piece is that being first mover in an industry may not always guarantee an advantage. Go-Jek was the first company to introduce ride-hailing in Indonesia, seizing a head start on later entrants but Grab has been quick to develop and expand its operations in Indonesia and become the dominant player in the country.

Growing your business without understanding your market and competitors is risky. Consumer Pulse by ecommerceIQ helps collect and analyze information about consumer behavior to help you to hone your marketing strategy.