Orders from local residents on upward trend

Orders from local residents on upward trend

Ari Darmawan, Contributor, Jakarta

The word "moving" -- be it home, office or factory --
immediately conjures up a variety of images of all the trouble
and hardship that you have to go through.

Perhaps moving within the same city poses less problems, but
just imagine the hassle of moving to another city or country.
Therefore, moving and relocation companies are highly
appreciated.

Local companies offering such services began to be
established, spurred by similar foreign companies with an
international network, such as Global, Crown Pacific and Koll
Ipac, mostly serving foreign companies that intended to place
their experts in Indonesia.

"We provide our expatriate customers with information that is
as complete as possible, so that they encounter fewer problems
during their stay in Indonesia," said Lynnette Johnson,
relocation division manager of Koll Ipac, a U.S.-based company.

The information they give is quite detailed, as it includes
items such as suitable houses or apartments, the facilities of
social activities (clubs etc.), schools for the children, sports
centers, banks and their services, security systems, and how to
find housemaids, drivers and security guards.

With more than six years of experience in the country, Koll
Ipac currently serves a great number of clients, 50 percent of
whom are American citizens, while the rest come from various
European and Asian countries as well as Australia. Most work for
oil and gas companies, banks, financial institutions,
construction and cigarette companies as well as advertising
agencies.

According to Lynnette, June and July are usually the peak
season for relocation orders. "This is very much related to the
school enrollment period. Obviously, expatriates who move to this
country adjust the timing with the children's completion of exams
in their home countries," she explained.

During the country's economic crisis in 1988 and 1999, Koll
Ipac mostly served expatriates returning to their native
countries. However, since 2000, quite a number have returned. The
moving and relocation orders for January 2003 saw a steep rise,
in comparison with the same month last year. "While we can't
reveal the exact figures, we have certainly been much busier this
year so far," Lynnette added.

Today, the trend of Indonesians making use of moving and
relocation services is also on the rise, though relatively more
slowly than in developed countries. Take Kusumo Widjaya, a
Jakartan living in the Ciledug area, for example. He is planning
to move to Batam island in the near future to take up a new job
at an electronics company on the industrialized island.

To avoid all the hassle, he has decided to rely on the
assistance of a moving company, which he found from an
advertisement in one of the city's newspapers.

"But the cost of services offered by this foreign company was
exorbitant, probably because it served foreigners. Later I found
out that local companies operated in the same business and their
rates were quite reasonable," said Kusumo.

Moving his entire family to Batam also meant moving almost all
the contents of his house, such as beds, sofas, wardrobes,
fridge, television, and so forth. He found that using the
services of a moving company helped a great deal, as besides
cutting down on all the hassle, everything was covered by
insurance. "I couldn't have done it more cheaply, plus I'm not
really familiar with the elaborate customs procedures and it
would have affected my office hours as well," said the father of
two.

Some courier companies tend to agree about the increase in
relocation orders from locals. "In comparison with two years ago,
today's orders come in almost on a daily basis," said chief
executive officer of Tiki JNE Johari Zein, one of the local
companies specializing in moving and relocation services. The
lowest number of orders -- mostly house moving -- the company
currently receives is between three and five per month.

Though the local segment is growing, albeit not at the
expected rate, the largest market share still continues to be
foreigners, used to such services in their home country for
years.

The low interest of locals in these services is probably due
to several factors.

The first seems to be cultural, meaning the closely knit and
family-like relations within Indonesian communities. After
announcing one's plan to move, quite often friends, neighbors and
relatives would come over and lend a hand without expecting
reward or payment. During the relocation of an office, one would
also find the work was done together by both the directors and
top executives, down to the office boys. Comparatively, again
perhaps owing to their more individualistic character, scenes
where friends and neighbors dropped in to help would tend to be
rarer in Western societies.

Second is the cost, as moving companies cost more than moving
on your own, because they charge for every step of the
assignment, from surveys at the old and new locations, packing
and transportation, to unpacking and rearranging furniture or
equipment at your new address. Obviously, in the do-it-yourself
mode, with the help of your relatives, neighbors and friends, the
cost only consists of the rental fee of the truck and some food
and beverages for the kind helpers.

Another factor, no less important, is lack of information on
the part of locals regarding the availability of moving and
relocation companies. The solution to this problem faced by such
companies is actually quite simple. To enlarge the local market
segment they should jointly promote their services to increase
awareness of their services.

In other words, the key strategy is to educate the local
segment on the benefits of using the services of moving and
relocation companies to speed up its growth, though such
education in the form of promotions and advertising campaigns
would certainly imply huge costs and take a while to succeed.

Logically, once the local market segment is ripe, relocation
companies will be rewarded with increased orders from locals. It
would be strange indeed if orders from expatriates -- much
smaller in number -- remained significantly larger than those
from locals, who form the majority of the country's population.
Attempts should be made to strike some kind of balance.