[Written in partnership with PubliCT.io, but the editorial team had full control over the content.]
The rise of online grocery delivery services has been a steady growth over the past decade, with the pandemic further amplifying the necessity of such solutions.
Some providers have come and gone though, with a notable one being honestbee in the past, and more recently, HappyFresh.
However, something to note was that they came in with online solutions first, then proceeded to try and set up their own stores (retail for honestbee, cloud for HappyFresh), but ultimately were unable to keep up with the costs.
Thus far, it appears that the majority of online grocer services that have remained active are run by brands that established themselves as retail hypermarkets first.
Perhaps this trend will work to the advantage of MYDIN too, who newly established its online ecommerce website, mydin.my, as well as its mobile app.
The launch of these B2C platforms is powered by Dropee, a B2B ecommerce solution provider.
According to Aizat Rahim, the managing director of Dropee, the partnership started in January 2021, after MYDIN reached out to TERAJU, the Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera, about looking for a digital solution to transform their business operations nationwide.
And that’s when Dropee came in.
Dropee currently manages over 110,000 businesses on its platform, and more than 26,000 of them are actually purchasing some of their inventories from MYDIN’s B2B warehouses.
“We believe one of the strongest factors [MYDIN] partnered with us compared to other players is because of the way we are working with the retailers as well as the quantity of retailers being served by Dropee,” he elaborated.
Although Dropee has been focused on B2B solutions on marketplace and software enablement, the team realised that for the company to understand the full cycle of the B2B supply chain, they had to work closely with retailers and their customers to understand the movement of goods in the chain.
Furthermore, MYDIN also agreed to promote Dropee’s core offering for businesses to purchase and manage their inventories using the same integrated platform between Dropee and MYDIN.
With all this in mind, Dropee thought it would be one of the best pilot partnerships they could have, with Aizat saying it “makes absolute sense” for Dropee to take up the project.
Building the infrastructure
Dropee’s tasks in the partnership involve building an entire supply chain of operations for MYDIN, managing MYDIN’s own vendors and suppliers as well as managing stock inventories across multiple central warehouses, retailers, and even other marketplaces like Shopee, Youbeli, and more.
Equipping part of its Dropee Direct solution called Dropee Omni, MYDIN is also able to have an all-in-one marketplace inventory sync where users can manage their inventories, sales, orders, and products across different platforms.
Apart from the website, there’s also the matter of the app. Although Dropee does not have an app of its own, the team has built applications to integrate with their core marketplace for clients.
“Most of Dropee’s existing retailers prefer to handle their business operations on a PC rather than a mobile app,” Aizat explained.
“With that said, we understand that, depending on the goals and directions of our clients such as MYDIN, [it’s important that] our system is also capable of building and integrating the app for their internal dashboard management.”
Anticipating the future
While MYDIN is Dropee’s first consumer-facing project, the partnership seems to be off to a great start. However, Dropee also anticipates possible issues down the road such as managing deliveries nationwide.
“As of today on the platform, MYDIN transacts at least around more than 50,000 online orders monthly nationwide, even on the outskirts of Malaysia,” Aizat reported.
“Hence, to manage the vast amount of orders on the platform, we have worked together with MYDIN to integrate with Third Party Logistics (3PL) partners to ensure the goods can be delivered in a timely manner.”
Compared to existing online grocery platforms, Aizat believes that MYDIN’s is different due to the pricing engine the team has specially developed to allow users across Malaysia to get the best prices and bundle deals.
To test the theory, we looked for the same product across various similar online platforms such as Lotus’s, myAEON2go and Jaya Grocer.
In particular, we compared the prices of a 1-litre carton of Marigold full-cream UHT milk. On Lotus’s, it’s priced at RM6.75, while on Jaya Grocer it is RM5.70. On myAEON2go, it’s RM6.65.
Interestingly, on MYDIN, it says the original price is RM6.20 when viewing it from the catalogue, but it has been discounted to RM5.55, indeed making it the most affordable pricing out of the bunch.
While this comparison doesn’t paint a full picture of what MYDIN offers compared to other websites, it does seem like a lot of the items listed are discounted, perhaps indicating the presence of the pricing engine Aizat mentioned earlier.
However, MYDIN doesn’t offer same-day delivery yet, though it aims to do so by the end of the year.
- Learn more about MYDIN here, and Dropee here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups here.
Featured Image Credit: MYDIN