Grab’s Tan okay with Go-Jek’s expansion
SINGAPORE ride hailing app Grab co-founder Anthony Tan welcomes Indonesian rival Go-Jek’s expansion to other Southeast Asia countries, saying that competition will boost the performance of both Grab and Go-Jek.
“Grab was born into competition, we embrace competition because we believe iron sharpens iron,” Tan said in Singapore on Friday.
When Grab competed only with Uber in Southeast Asia, it was forced to accelerate and focus more on improving its services to customers, Tan added.
Uber expanded to Southeast Asia countries, China and Russia in 2013. But in March 2018, the company sold its Southeast Asian operations to competitor Grab.
“The competition forces you to be more innovative. Customers will not leave you because of competition. They leave you because you do not love them anymore,” Tan said.
Go-Jek recently announced plans to expand its business to four Southeast Asian countries: Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
It will use the GoViet brand in Vietnam and Get in Thailand but has yet to announce brands for Singapore and the Philippines.
