Grab’s open platform strategy to build everyday superapp

By Digital News Asia July 11, 2018

GrabFresh, an on-demand grocery delivery service, will be launched in beta this month
Grab as an everyday superapp will come to life with a new Grab interface

Grab’s open platform strategy to build everyday superapp

GRAB on July 10 announced GrabPlatform, as part of its open platform strategy to build Southeast Asia’s first everyday superapp.

Grab will add more everyday services to the Grab app, together with best-in-class partners, who can use GrabPlatform to integrate their services with Grab.

Partners can expand more efficiently across Southeast Asia by leveraging on Grab’s user base and Southeast Asia’s largest distribution channels through GrabPlatform, a suite of APIs that enables partners to access components of Grab’s technology like logistics and payments.

“GrabPlatform amplifies economic value for all of Southeast Asia. Even more than what we could ever create by ourselves,” said Grab group CEO & co-founder Anthony Tan.

Grab also announced its latest service, GrabFresh, an on-demand grocery delivery service.

Available in the Grab app, GrabFresh is a GrabPlatform partner integration with HappyFresh, a Southeast Asian grocery delivery provider.

“Over the past six years, we’ve worked hard to improve our technology and expand our reach. Our assets are well tested through Grab’s own services. We’ve gone from offering our tech as a booking platform for taxi operators, to providing a fleet of delivery drivers for e-commerce companies.

“It’s now time to take what we’re really good at to a select group of partners – and eventually make our platform open to the wider Southeast Asia ecosystem. With over 100 million mobile installs, a network of 7.1 million drivers, delivery partners, merchants and agents, and strong payments and back-end technology, we are better placed than anyone else in the region to help other start-ups and businesses grow and scale, as we have,” said Tan.

By partnering with HappyFresh, Grab customers can enjoy grocery shopping from the comfort of home. GrabExpress drivers and delivery partners can send the groceries to doorsteps within an hour, or at a pre-arranged and convenient time.

“Grocery delivery is a huge opportunity in Southeast Asia. From our research, 70% of grocery delivery app users shop at least once per week, and they like to shop from the stores that they are familiar with.

“What they want is for their preferred items to be available and ready, when they want it. GrabFresh already has the widest selection of products compared to other grocery delivery services,” said HappyFresh CEO Guillem Segarra.

GrabFresh will be available as a beta service in Jakarta from this month and will be available in Thailand and Malaysia by the end of 2018. Other countries will follow.

GrabPlatform is a suite of APIs that give access to components of Grab’s technology including transport, logistics, payments, user authentication, messaging, insights and mapping.

GrabPlatform gives partners access to a combination of core Grab assets including a distribution network of 7.1 million drivers, delivery partners, agents and merchants, a Southeast Asia footprint across 225 cities in eight countries, and a robust suite of technology and products localised for Southeast Asia.

“Southeast Asia is set to be the fourth largest economy by 2050. More people are moving into the middle class, technology infrastructure is catching up, and companies must adapt fast to shifting emerging market opportunities.

“Combining Grab’s assets with the specialised expertise of our partners will enable both Grab and our partners to grow most efficiently and quickly to serve more Southeast Asian customers daily,” said Tan.

GrabPlatform partners can work with Grab in multiple ways to focus on growing their business, while reducing operational complexity.

Build into GrabPlatform: Partners can provide more services, such as GrabFresh directly to Grab’s users
Empower with GrabPlatform: Enable partners to integrate Grab’s suite of technology and products into their own websites or apps.
Engage through GrabPlatform: Partners can actively engage Grab customers via both Grab’s news feed and GrabRewards loyalty programme

“Our goal is for one Southeast Asian app to offer all the daily essentials you need, anytime you need it, and even before you know you need it,” said Jerald Singh, head of product at Grab.

Grab also launched a content partnership with Yahoo. Grab customers can keep up to date with the latest news at any time in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines from this month. Other local news partnerships will be announced in other countries soon.

The new Grab experience will begin to roll out in Singapore and Indonesia on iOS from July 10, and on Android from July 18. Other countries will have the new Grab experience by Q3.