GoTo And The Lippo Group Of Conglomerate Mochtar Riady Are Getting Closer, Here Are The Proofs

JAKARTA - The Lippo Group owned by conglomerate Mochtar Riady and PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GOTO) are no longer shy about showing their 'familiarity'. There are several things that clearly show this.

This closeness emerged after Grab Holdings Inc acquired Tokopedia and Lippo's shares in the digital wallet company OVO in October 2021. Since then, Lippo has been freer to cooperate with GoTo, which incidentally is a competitor to Grab in Southeast Asia.

Moreover, GoTo has become one of the shareholders of the Lippo Group entity, namely PT Multipolar Tbk. (MLPL) by 4.8 percent in October 2021. At that time GoTo bought some of the shares of MLPL owned by PT Inti Anugerah Pratama.

Apart from MLPL, the spread of GoTo also occurred at PT Matahari Putra Prima Tbk (MPPA). GoTo holds a 6 percent stake in the modern retail company.

Looking back, the Lippo Group seems to have taken advantage of its proximity to GOTO to accelerate the digitization of services in its modern retail companies. One of the proofs is when MPPA, which is the manager of Hypermart, collaborated with GoTo's subsidiary, Gojek, to launch 31 virtual stores in July 2021.

The form of this collaboration is that the 31 virtual stores located in the Greater Jakarta area will be presented through the GoMart online shopping platform. At that time MPPA CEO Elliot Dickson said the partnership allowed MPPA to bring a virtual store at GoMart to provide customers with more access and convenience in buying fresh produce, groceries, and household needs.

"Consumers in the Jabodetabek area can rely on online shopping services through GoMart on the Gojek application comfortably from home. This is a form of MPPA support for the government's efforts in the hope of reducing the spread of COVID-19," he said.

Dickson also said that MPPA will continue to expand its partnership with Gojek through more complete services and features and virtual stores.

Most recently, the Lippo Group partnership with GoTo was also carried out through PT Matahari Department Store Tbk (LPPF). The modern retail management issuer announced a partnership with GoTo's subsidiary, Tokopedia, through the official Matahari store on e-commerce on Monday, April 11.

The presence of Matahari's official store at Tokopedia is believed to make it easier for the public to get a wide selection of local and international fashion products at Matahari. As is known, Tokopedia users are spread across 99 percent of sub-districts in Indonesia.

"Matahari welcomes various media and technology-based communication touchpoints to deliver quality fashion products to all customers in line with our vision to become an omnichannel House of Specialists," said Matahari CEO Terry O'Connor in a press release.

He said collaboration with Tokopedia is one of the company's strategic efforts to encourage the advancement of the creative industry. This collaboration is also expected to be able to provide alternative shopping options to all customers.

"We hope that this collaboration can facilitate an increase in demand for fashion products and encourage the development of the national fashion industry even further," said Terry.

Tokopedia reports that the fashion category is one of the categories with the highest increase in transactions ahead of Ramadan, compared to the same period in the previous year. This shopping trend also shows that people's enthusiasm for meeting fashion needs from home is still very high.

"The collaboration between Tokopedia and Matahari is in line with our shared commitment to support local business activists, including those from the fashion industry, in getting the widest digital stage in the midst of a pandemic," said Tokopedia VP of Marketplace Yudhiaji Kusuma.