Can Ovo, ‘shunned’ by Tokopedia, keep the crown?

When super app Gojek and ecommerce player Tokopedia merged to become GoTo Group, one of the first questions that came up was, what would happen to Ovo? The Indonesian e-wallet counts Tokopedia as its biggest use case driver.

Gojek had its own digital wallet in GoPay, and Ovo was affiliated with the decacorn’s archrival Grab. But there were also regulatory reasons: Bank Indonesia – the country’s central bank – does not allow any single entity to hold two e-money licenses simultaneously.

In January 2020, the strategy and timeline were still vague, though a gradual process seemed more likely than a clean break. Tokopedia, however, just made a major move towards the future: Gojek’s solutions are now front and center in the ecommerce platform.

Screenshot of GoPay in the Tokopedia app

Cashback points, for instance, are now offered in the form of GoPay coins. Meanwhile, many of Tokopedia’s app-wide discounts are given in exchange for using services like GoPaylater.

Ovo is still available as a payment option, but it’s no longer in the most favorable placements.

“In the coming month or maximum a year, it will begin to appear that Ovo’s [market] position will gradually decrease and possibly GoPay will take over,” says Aldi Adrian Hartanto, vice president of investments at MDI Ventures.

Ovo has taken steps to soften the blow. In line with its existing open-ecosystem strategy, the e-wallet is available as a payment option in other ecommerce platforms, including Lazada and Blibli.

Ovo is “​​further expanding its use cases and driving adoption within the core payment business, as well as expanding its financial services verticals,” a company spokesperson tells Tech in Asia.

Still, it may not matter whether Tokopedia’s volume can be replaced, as long as Ovo succeeds in building a strong foundation of financial services, which is where the real money lies.

The strongest ecosystem wins

In a way, Ovo may have already lost its status as Indonesia’s top e-wallet by late 2020. A report from Ipsos and Bank Indonesia put then-newcomer ShopeePay as the leading e-wallet based on transaction values.

An uncertain future