Grab Philippines announced new initiatives for small businesses in the food and beverage (F&B) industry in the Philippines. This includes product solutions to expand merchants’ online presence; a partnership with the International Finance Corporation to improve financial literacy among small businesses; and the launch of Grab’s first F&B Trends Report to guide local merchants as they continue to adapt to changing consumer behaviors and preferences. These initiatives were announced at Grab Philippines’ second annual merchant conference for its food and beverage merchant-partners.
The new initiatives, which will roll out in phases this year, are part of Grab Philippines’ ongoing efforts to support the digital transformation of local businesses that are the bedrock of the Philippine economy. By providing businesses with powerful platform tools, relevant insights, and upskilling opportunities, Grab Philippines aims to be the most preferred platform of choice for merchants and businesses in the Philippines.
As more Filipinos turned to food delivery during this age of working from home and distance learning, it is vital that food and beverage business owners have actionable market insights and trends to help them better tailor their business offerings, seize untapped market opportunities, and resiliently grow their businesses. Grab has commissioned the global research firm Nielsen IQ on its first F&B Trends Report consisting of insights and trends based on the responses of 1,000 respondents, in-depth interviews, and consumer focus groups.
The report highlighted how Filipinos’ F&B consumption behaviors have shifted since the pandemic, and how COVID further accelerated the adoption of food delivery platforms given the restricted mobility caused by quarantine measures. Many F&B businesses relied on food delivery platforms to help sustain their operations and grow their businesses — with 92% of the respondents saying that food delivery plays a critical role in their businesses, while 39% suggested that they depend on food deliveries for the survival of their business.
The increasing number of consumers ordering meals online is creating opportunities for merchant-partners and they are now looking for ways to expand their online presence both within and beyond the Grab app.
As a market leader in food delivery, Grab is extending its tech expertise and capabilities to help its merchant-partners grow by introducing “Grab Online Shop,” an e-commerce solution tailored for food and beverage businesses. Grab Online Shop gives merchants the opportunity to set up and manage their own customizable online ordering website that comes with comprehensive technical and customer support from Grab.
The benefits include:
- Increased flexibility: Merchants can set their preferred delivery radius, maximum delivery fees and minimum order amount, and have the choice of delivering orders using their own fleet or Grab’s delivery partners. This added flexibility will enable merchants to further grow their online sales while optimizing their costs.
- Easy management: Merchants can manage their website orders using the GrabMerchant app, which is the same app they currently use to manage their GrabFood orders. The GrabMerchant app and portal also give merchants access to analytics and marketing tools to understand how their business is performing as well as create promotions to attract more customers to their website.
- Fuss-free set up: The Grab team will help merchants set up their branded websites according to their preferred configurations. The website is also integrated with Grab’s user login, cashless payment, and last-mile delivery solutions — giving merchants everything they need to start operating their own online ordering website. These integrations also improve the consumer experience by allowing users to place an order within 5 taps. Grab users can log-in with their Grab account to have their delivery details auto-populated before proceeding with an order.
Grab is also launching “Campaign Packages,” a marketing solution housed within the GrabMerchant app. With Campaign Packages, GrabFood merchants can opt-in to their preferred Grab-curated marketing packages, which combine relevant advertising and promotional solutions, to enable merchants in meeting their goals effectively. For merchants who like the flexibility of designing their own campaigns, they can continue to leverage Grab’s self-serve advertising and promotional solutions within the GrabMerchant app.
Aside from this, Grab and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are collaborating to improve financial literacy among small businesses. Grab’s merchant-partners will have access to IFC’s world-class training materials for free via GrabAcademy on the GrabMerchant app.
“When I became country head last October, I made it my commitment to use our tech and platform to help our kababayans overcome the many challenges brought by the pandemic. These are challenging times for many businesses, but through regular engagements with our merchant-partners and constantly keeping our ears to the ground, we gain a holistic and deeper understanding of their needs and continuously support them with features, solutions, and programs to help them become more resilient amidst these market conditions. We are grateful for the trust and confidence of our merchant-partners, and we will continue to reinforce our commitment to supporting their growth and long-term success,” said Grace Vera Cruz, country head of Grab Philippines.
Continuous support for merchant-partners
Grab has actively played a key role in supporting MSMEs, especially during the pandemic, by providing tools, education, and solutions. Since the lockdown, Grab has focused on providing safe and quality service to Filipino consumers while supporting its merchant-partners.
The continued mobility restriction prompted Grab to introduce Long Distance Delivery and GrabKitchen. Both of these allowed merchant-partners to improve their livelihood and increase their revenues as they are able to reach a wider and larger customer base.
Consumers are also able to provide consumer feedback on food safety and quality through the Merchant Quality Scorecard, which will be shared directly with merchant-partners in-app.
The GrabMerchant app gives merchant-partners access to analytics and marketing tools that help them understand the performance of their business on the platform. It guides businesses as well on how to craft promotions to attract more customers. Beyond managing daily operations, merchant-partners can also plot their growth through an enterprise-grade analytics dashboard.
Apart from this, Grab aided many local businesses in their digitalization journey through the Small Business Booster Program, wherein necessary tools and solutions are provided so that they can better serve their consumers online. Grab launched as well the Madiskarteng Boss Club, a program that helps social sellers by equipping them with learnings and skills that they need to grow their businesses through Grab, together with multiple benefits exclusive to the members.
Results from the F&B Trends Report
Current trends and data on what Filipino consumers like to consume in the F&B business and how the food delivery industry has helped shape consumer behavior during this time. Here are some of the results based on the F&B Trends Report commissioned by Grab:
- The report tried to discover what drives Filipinos to try new restaurants and how often they do so. The report revealed that an average Filipino consumer on GrabFood is trying 2-3 different restaurants in a month. About 71% of consumers indicated they are driven by a variety of choices, while about half were driven by value for money, promotions, and visual appeal of the food.
- When it comes to actual users, The report revealed that families with children are the main consumers of food delivery services with 65% of them belonging to the 25-44 year-old bracket.
- The report showed that the top food categories Filipinos search for on GrabFood are fast food, pizza, and cake.
- Cake orders grew by 2.6 times in 2020 compared to 2019.
- Coffee & tea orders during breakfast grew by 2.3 times in 2020.