UEM Sunrise inks agreement with Grab to drive cashless culture

• Partnership aims to drive innovation economy, day to day convenience and a cashless culture
• Merchants to tap into Grab customers; Grab to ease transport needs with designated waiting area

UEM Sunrise Bhd, the master developer of Iskandar Puteri, together with Grab Malaysia, inked a strategic partnership to drive a cashless culture in and around Publika and Iskandar Puteri.

The partnership will see Grab offering its full suite of services to benefit the business objectives of retailers, whilst changing the dining and shopping experience for customers.

As part of the partnership, UEM Sunrise will assist Grab to ensure that a significant number of their tenants will adopt GrabPay as one of their preferred cashless payment method. With almost one in two Malaysians having the Grab app, merchants can also tap into the wide variety of Grab users.

Some of Publika’s merchants who are now on the Grab platform, either as GrabFood or GrabPay merchants are Plan B, Red Revenge, Baskin Robbins and TeaLive, who has been a GrabPay merchant since the launch of the mobile wallet.

In addition to establishing Publika and Iskandar Puteri as a cashless environment, Grab will be providing a designated waiting area for passengers as they wait for their rides.

Grab Malaysia country head Sean Goh said that one of Grab’s recipes to success is by seeking out like-minded partners who share the same vision for a more progressive and convenient lifestyle for their customers. “As a homegrown tech-enabled company, we are heavily invested in making our customers’ lives more convenient by addressing their everyday needs, from transport to food deliveries and even in-store payments by a singular payment platform. In doing so, we are able to help shape a new Malaysia that supports innovation economy where micro entrepreneurs such as our drivers and merchants, especially our local small established brands can flourish,” said Goh.  

Ooi Huey Tyng, head of GrabPay Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines who was also present at the event said that by driving a cashless culture, Grab is taking Malaysians one step further towards financial inclusiveness whilst boosting the nation’s economy.

“Since our launch a few months ago, we have been able to increase our merchant numbers by four times, and despite the general high cash transaction percentage in the country, our GrabPay transaction rates are increasing week on week. This is a testament that Malaysians are ready to embrace the cashless culture, given the right encouragement.

“Therefore, we are excited to be able to partner with a well-established developer like UEM Sunrise, who shares a similar vision of embracing innovation and technology to drive a forward-thinking community,” said Ooi.

Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib, managing director and chief executive officer of UEM Sunrise said that they are always mindful of designing sustainable environments that nurtures community building.

“We are very conscientious of the role we play as a property developer to ensure that our township developments cater to the needs of our tenants, customers, and also, the communities that have chosen our projects as their home. So, while we believe we should initiate the first step, we pride ourselves in going beyond bricks and mortars to create an ecosystem through digital initiative and take our vision further. Hence, we are very excited about such partnerships with Grab that adds value to the people we are building for,” said Anwar.

Aside from the joint partnership within Publika, Grab will also support UEM Sunrise’s development in Iskandar Puteri in Johor by offering similar suites of services there. Iskandar Puteri, is one of the five flagship zones of Iskandar Malaysia.

GrabPay, which was launched three months ago across eight cities – Penang, Ipoh, Klang Valley, Melaka, Johor Bahru, Kuantan Kota Kinabalu and Kuching – enables consumers to top-up and spend their money or ‘GrabPay Credits’ to pay for Grab’s services via the app and in-store with the GrabPay QR code.

Every ringgit spent enables customers to collect up to 20x GrabRewards points that can then be used to redeem vouchers and discounts for shopping, services, F&B, and Grab rides. Moreover, consumers can also transfer money directly to each other conveniently via the app with just a few simple taps.

Both organisations see an encouraging interest amongst the merchants and Mont’Kiara is a popular area for Grab services. Goh hopes that this partnership will open more doors for property developers and mall operators to recognise Grab as a viable and strategic partner to enhance and add value to their properties.