- Following their successful assimilation of Uber’s operations in Southeast Asia, Grab Malaysia have announced their plan to become a one-stop app and platform for Malaysians to conduct their daily activities, from transport and dining, all the way to making payments and getting financed.
- Immediate plans include the introduction of GrabPay to retail and the widening of GrabFood’s operations.
Coming after their takeover from Uber in Southeast Asia nearly two months ago, Grab announced its goal to become a one-stop platform for Malaysians to go about their everyday lives. From on-demand food delivery, cashless payments, logistics, and financial services among others, Grab stated its aim to have Malaysians use their app for almost all points of their daily activity.
Among the services included in its plan were its GrabCar ride-hailing service, its GrabFood meal delivery platform, and its GrabPay e-wallet among others.
“We are in a position to power this future of smart cities for consumers, because of the interconnectedness of each of our services and how they help each other grow,” said Grab Malaysia Country Head Sean Goh. “We started with making transport more efficient, and now, we are introducing GrabFood and GrabPay as a mobile wallet to Malaysia soon.”
“By building a technology platform that serves the most important everyday lifestyle needs of our consumers, we are benefitting an entire ecosystem of connected users who are not only passengers and driver partners, but also increasingly merchants and delivery partners.”
“We can help everyone—particularly micro-entrepreneurs—grow their businesses and serve consumers better with how each of our service is interlinked.”
According to Grab, their plan for an interconnected lifestyle platform arose in October 2017, just as they crossed the 1 billion rides mark. Surveying consumers from around the Southeast Asia region, they were impressed upon by its users to fulfil the demand for a one-stop app that could help facilitate all aspects of daily living.
Currently, Grab is hoping to fulfil this demand by improving upon their current offerings as well as introduce more pertinent verticals in the future.
1. Transport
On the transport front, Grab will aim to go just ride-hailing and include multiple modes of transport within its platform, including busses and rail transport systems.
“With better integration of public and private transportation options in one platform, consumers can choose to ride across and pay for multiple modes of transport seamlessly in one single journey,” they said in a statement.
2. Payments
For payments, Grab will within the next few weeks introduce GrabPay as a payment method that can be used at traditional retail outlets as well as for online shopping. Grab hopes that with their wide user base, Grab Pay will be able to help smaller businesses in Malaysia gain access to more customers.
3. Financial Services
Additionally, Grab will also aid underfinanced individuals and businesses through its range of schemes and fintech offerings. Grab claim that as of today, their platform has enabled more than six million micro-entrepreneurs, and that they hope to raise that number to 100 million by the year 2020.
4. Food Delivery
Finally, Grab also spoke about their food delivery service GrabFood, and explained that the platform is currently being implemented in select areas such as Sri Hartamas, Bangsar, Mont Kiara, and Bukit Damansara, with more localities to see the service as soon as late May.
“GrabFood and GrabPay mobile wallet are the next major steps in our move to serve the daily essential needs of consumers.” Sean said.
“With our acquisition of Uber’s operations in Malaysia and the expansion of GrabFood across the region, we are working with local merchant and delivery-partners to deliver the best of Malaysia’s kitchens to the doorsteps of millions in the very near future.”
For a visual representation of what they’re trying to achieve, check out this video.
- Read more about something else Grab is doing with tertiary students via GrabVarsity here.
Feature Image Credit: Grab
