eCommerce/startup pivot

One after another, eCommerce and other startup starting to sell phone credit and other bill payment. They from time to time offering discount to attract user to do transaction. They disrupt the existing phone credit selling ecosystem.

Here’s my analysis for their pivot:

1. Phone credit and other bill payment is commodity and one can argue that this is feels like FMCG. Everybody needs it.

Supermarket usually offering discount on cooking oil and diaper so people will come to store in hope they will buy other stuff. As I have retail store myself, I know that either supermarket take a loss or very slim margin (provided that they buy in bulk) on that items.
Just like supermarket, it seems eCommerce attract people to their sites with the intention that customer will buy other stuff as well harvesting their email/phone address for advertising purposes. A much cheaper trick than to lure the customer via promo/discount. eCommerce has run some many promo and customer start feeling promo price is the real price. This not healthy. A race to the bottom
Please note it’s not just eCommerce which sell phone credit it is also other startup such as Gojek and Traveloka

2. In a case for Gojek, selling phone credit is one of their monetization. Gojek has hundreds thousand of drivers, enabling them with GoPulsa (their feature for selling phone credit), Gojek suddenly become one of the largest phone credit distributor in an instant. Please note that driver usually come from lower income level people. If driver plan to become phone credit seller, their customer will not be the GoRide customer but the driver circle (family, friends and neighbor).

Gojek also has millions of user, with the seamless integration with GoPay, it will get very easy for customer to get phone credit while making GoPay adoption widespread.

What’s the impact of this pivot:

1. The traditional channel. The eCommerce of course taking somebody else lunch. In this case the original phone credit seller which sell it on off line store. I remember when bank start to sell phone credit, there is big protest from the phone credit distributor, which impacted that the bank only sell credit >= 25000

2. The Bank. Previously I always recharge using my Internet banking. But it require me to open my laptop as well as using token. Please note that I’m not mobile banking user. With the phone credit selling and bill payment market share eaten by eCommerce/startup, Bank need to scratch their head to get other fee-based income

3. The Telco. More distribution channel is good for them, especially when it is not require physical voucher. Although more channel can be more challenge to Telco operation

4. The customer. Competition always good for customer. The price tend to become lower and seller can offer other gimmick to attract customer

So, what it will look like in the future? Will it be another disruptor? Tell me your opinion in the comment