Grab brings in-app solutions to small businesses in provinces

ONLINE food delivery service GrabFood has introduced new features and merchant partnership packages to help businesses across the Philippines meet their goals, its director for deliveries said. 

These include Find & Dine, an in-app resto guide for those seeking to dine in new places, and Marketing Manager, a digital marketing management portal exclusive to merchant partners with no added cost.

“What happened during the pandemic — as a function of the lockdowns with businesses not able to cater to dine-in — is we really did see explosive growth in number of merchants in that period,” Greg Camacho, Grab Philippines director for deliveries, told reporters last week.

“Based on the data we’ve seen, there are still a lot of markets outside Metro Manila that are underserved,” he said.

GrabFood’s merchant partner packs, which have three tiers — Basic, Platinum, and Premium — come with varying services tailored for micro, small, and medium enterprises’ (MSMEs) specific needs.

Mr. Camacho explained that each pack has a designated delivery area, optimized delivery fees for consumers, Grab-funded promotional campaigns, and visibility in Grab users’ subscription GrabUnlimited.

Though there are “tens of thousands of merchants” now on the app, GrabFood will continue to expand to more cities, he said.

Five more will be added within the year, including Panabo, which is north of Davao, and Tanauan and Sto. Tomas, both located in Batangas, said Mr. Camacho. There are also areas of interest in Northern Luzon.

Since the coronavirus pandemic, MSMEs coming on the app have grown by 60% annually on average, he said.

“The growth rate will potentially normalize, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not going to be there. It’s going to continue growing because of the expansion to these new areas,” he added.

Consumers also now anticipate “the ability to explore, interact, and make purchases through some form of digital touchpoint,” according to a regional survey conducted by Grab in 2022.

It found that 9 out of 10 consumers across Southeast Asia express a strong preference for brands that offer an integrated online-to-offline experience.

Anton Bautista, Grab Philippines’ senior director for deliveries, said in a statement that its Scan-to-Order and Self Pick-Up solutions are proof of “the shift to a hybrid lifestyle in the post-pandemic environment.”

Mr. Camacho added that Grab has been focused on MSMEs as they make up over 99% of businesses in the Philippines.

“We try to enable them with these self-serve tools we’ve launched, and we really made sure that any merchant can have access to them regardless of size,” he said. — Brontë H. Lacsamana