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Thailand: Rapid shopping via Pandamarts
Foodpanda is pivoting to quick delivery e-commerce with its rollout of Pandamart, a service offering essential goods from “cloud stores” as a new vertical to gain an edge in the cut-throat delivery market.
The company announced the launch of 150 Pandamarts in Asia, boasting 25-minute delivery times for thousands of items, including fresh groceries and daily items such as toothbrushes and portable charger banks.
There are 13 Pandamarts in Bangkok and the company wants to operate the service nationwide.
“If you order on Lazada, it’s impossible to deliver from one of their warehouses in Bang Na to the city centre in 20 minutes,” said Alex Felde, managing director of Foodpanda. “But we can put micro-warehouses into very dense areas with an assortment of items people use on a daily basis, helping us to deliver at much faster speeds.”
According to a report by Google Temasek, the e-commerce market grew 81% year-on-year in Thailand in 2020, while online food delivery grew 42% year-on-year.
Cloud stores, much like the cloud kitchens Foodpanda launched in the past, are delivery only and open to the public. Because of this, the stores can be located in low traffic areas with lower rents, but central enough to offer quick delivery.
Foodpanda operates cloud stores in eight countries and aims to open stores in all 12 of its operating markets: Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Pakistan, Taiwan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Japan.
This year it also plans to expand into Myanmar, although the current coup and political unrest may make the proposition challenging, especially as the government is shutting off internet connections to inhibit political organising.
Foodpanda is owned by the German multinational Delivery Hero, which owns and operates similar food delivery apps across the world.
According to the consultancy Momentum Works, Foodpanda holds a 23% market share of online food delivery in Thailand, behind Grab at 50% and ahead of Lineman at 20%.
Foodpanda is also partnering with retailers like Tesco and CP Freshmart, and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands to expand the options on its platform.
“We work very closely with leading FMCG like Unilever and RB to really understand the customer base well,” said Abhishek Sahay, director of new verticals at Foodpanda. “We also work with local grocers and see alternative meats as a growing segment with a very sticky customer base on our platform.”
Grocery is the fastest-growing category in delivery in Asia-Pacific and is expected to grow 30% from 2019 to 2024 while online penetration is expected to grow from 5.1% in 2020, to 10.6% in 2024, according to the research firm Forrester.
According to Foodpanda, the number of first-time customers ordering groceries via its app more than doubled between the first and second half of 2020 and continues to grow in 2021.
“Our retention numbers are very high and our customer satisfaction numbers are very high on Pandamart,” Mr Sahay said.
“Our business is very focused on sustainability and profitability and we see a very clear path towards that with this new business and that is why we are being so bullish on Pandamart,” he said.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2066351/rapid-shopping-via-pandamarts