During the movement control order, many convenience and grocery businesses were able to achieve a three times increase in sales via the GrabMart service. Today, as more businesses are gradually reopening, more consumers are looking for safe, convenient ways to shop for their daily retail needs.
In addition to the Government’s Pelan Jana Semula Ekonomi Negara (PENJANA), the homegrown tech enabler and proponent of the digital economy shared their next phase in supporting retail businesses to move forward in the ‘new normal’.
“While we saw a clear uplift to safe, instant deliveries for food, drinks, snacks and other essential goods via GrabFood, GrabMart and especially ‘Pasar’ on GrabMart, we see a new challenge for retailers. The ‘new normal’ will potentially affect retailers who traditionally rely on high foot traffic and walk-ins – from health and beauty retailers, toys, gifts and stationery shops to florists. This is a gap where we believe GrabMart is able to step in and address, while helping to make the government’s upcoming Shop Malaysia Online initiative a success” said Sean Goh, Managing Director of Grab Malaysia.
GrabMart is Grab’s latest service launched in November last year and has since expanded beyond Klang Valley to other cities such as Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Ipoh, Melaka and Penang. Leveraging on GrabMart, the homegrown company aims to help retail SMEs and chains achieve two key objectives:
- Meet customer expectations for safe, ‘instant’ delivery
Customers are evolving into ‘on-demand shoppers’ who are already accustomed to using mobile technology for their daily needs, and increasingly expect faster speed and safety for their retail purchases.
With more than 120,000 delivery partners nationwide, Grab is consistently optimising its technology to improve the delivery efficiency. “In fact, we recorded a consistently high level of service, with deliveries typically under 30 minutes for as low as RM5,” he further added.
- Enable retail stores to access millions of consumers living and working nearby
Today, retailers typically grow by investing heavily to expand their retail footprint. Nevertheless, physical stores are expensive to build and maintain, even as retail traffic reduces and consumers expect more instantaneous convenience and better accessibility.
With over 20 million downloads, the Grab platform enables retailers to leverage their existing network to serve a large community of tech-savvy users, and to increase their sales per store.
Meanwhile, retailers will also be able to reward their customers with GrabRewards points, while gaining access to in-depth insights on customers’ brand engagement and product preferences.
Since the MCO and CMCO period, multiple pioneering retail chains spanning across categories such as convenience and independent grocers, pharmacies, health, beauty and eyewear, and books, stationery and gifts have been leveraging GrabMart to serve their customers. “We are excited to expand and help more businesses transition seamlessly to adopt instant retail” said Goh.
Goh went on to say that as consumers spend more time at home and expect faster and safer services, it was no longer sustainable for businesses to keep expanding their retail presence to get closer to their customers’ homes. “Together, we can realise our nation’s vision for a more robust digital economy as businesses adjust seamlessly to the new norm,” he further added.
For businesses who are keen to know more can click here.
