Grab Starts Online Supermarket in Philippines for User Growth

(Bloomberg) -- Grab Holdings Inc., set to go public in the U.S. through a deal with a blank-check company, is launching an online supermarket in the Philippines as it tries to move beyond meal deliveries and ride-hailing to boost revenue.

Consumers in Metro Manila area, with a population of more than 13 million, will be able to order vegetables, meat, seafood and other groceries via the Grab app for next day delivery, the company said in a statement on Friday. Grab has already rolled out online supermarket services in Malaysia and Singapore, and it’s preparing to enter Thailand this year, said Russell Cohen, Grab’s managing director for operations.

“We want consumers to think of Grab when they think of food, from grocery shopping to meal delivery,” he said in an interview. Grab is also piloting a feature that lets users order and pay for food at restaurants using its app in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, he said.

Grab is trying to capture broader opportunities in the food services market to drive user growth. The online grocery market in Southeast Asia is expected to almost triple to $11.9 billion in 2025 from $4.1 billion in 2020, according to Euromonitor International.

The region’s online meal delivery transactions are also expected to triple, reaching $28 billion by 2025 as consumers continue to seek convenience post-pandemic, according to a Grab-commissioned report by Euromonitor released Friday.

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