Tag: Grab

Manila, Philippines – Following a recent ₱9m fine by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), Grab Philippines has stated that it is now evaluating its legal options regarding the fine, stating that it has been proactive at communicating with the PCC in regards to alternative options in reimbursing the fees to consumers.

A spokesperson for Grab Philippines said that while they are surprised with the new fine PCC has given them, they are glad that the PCC has finally come to a decision on the disbursement mechanism for the remaining administrative fees.

“Grab Philippines has always been 100% committed to fully depleting the unclaimed admin fees, and have made every effort we can to do so. We proposed alternative disbursement mechanisms and are surprised that the PCC made a decision in February 2023 without informing us – given that we’ve been regularly following up with them,” the spokesperson said.

The company also added that they will abide by the recent PCC order in regards to the alternative refund mechanism as required by the order.

The fine imposed by the PCC is composed of a ₱6m fine where Grab violated three separate commission orders for the company to return a combined ₱25.45m to its customers. The other ₱3m fine is in regards to Grab providing incorrect and misleading information in the compliance reports that the company submitted with respect to the refund orders.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has slapped Grab Philippines a new ₱9m fine (~US$160k) amidst delays in its refund to customers. This is more than three years after the PCC first ordered the reimbursement to Grab.

The fine is composed of a ₱6m fine where PCC said Grab violated three separate commission orders for the company to return a combined ₱25.45m to its customers. The other ₱3m fine is in regards to Grab providing incorrect and misleading information in the compliance reports that the company submitted with respect to the refund orders.

It should be recalled that the PCC penalised Grab a total of ₱63.7 million since 2018 for violations of its price and service quality commitments. It was in late 2019 when the Commission imposed on Grab the penalty to return a portion of its commissions to Grab’s passengers for violating its price monitoring commitment.

It has since ordered Grab to issue refunds in the amounts of ₱5.05m in November 2019, ₱14.15m in December 2019, and ₱6.25m in October 2020.

Moreover, the PCC also ordered Grab PH to pay back ₱19.3m to its users back in March 2022. In response, Grab PH stated back then that they have disbursed the full administrative fee in a manner consistent with the agreed mechanics with the PCC.

The PCC has also directed Grab to put in place an alternative refund mechanism that would allow its customers to claim remaining refunds, barring which the company was ordered to convey the amount to PCC for remittance to the National Treasury. To ensure higher take-up of the refund, the PCC instructed Grab to exhaust different platforms to inform customers about the pending reimbursement.

Manila, Philippines – Having close family ties is one of the hallmarks of Filipino culture, so it comes as no surprise that family celebrations are much beloved in the Philippines.

Amongst the most anticipated is Mother’s Day – and insights from GrabAds, the advertising arm of the leading superapp, show that Pinoys do get busy creating special moments for their nanays every second Sunday of May. 

GrabAds’ report, the ‘GrabAds SEA Mother’s Day Insights Report 2023’, gives brands and consumers a clear picture of how Grab – with its portfolio of services like GrabFood, GrabMart and GrabExpress – enables and empowers users to create extra-special Mother’s Day celebrations for their moms. 

According to the report, 88% of Grab users in the Philippines have already come up with plans specific to Mother’s Day 2023. The respondents look forward most to gathering their families, ordering food online, and going out for a meal together with their loved ones and, of course, their moms. 

GrabAds insights also show that Filipinos are happy to create special dining experiences at home as they tend to order more on the said date. In 2022, GrabFood orders rose by 25% on Mother’s Day versus the average number of food orders across all Sundays of April.

Meanwhile, delivered items also tend to be on the road more during Mother’s Day. For instance, last 8 May 2022, there were 37% more GrabExpress Deliveries versus the average Express Orders on the Sundays of the month prior. 

Moreover, eight out of 10 Grab users in the Philippines also plan on buying their moms a gift, and 82% of these are keen on buying a gift from Grab. Among the most popular choices on GrabFood and GrabMart during Mother’s Day last year were cakes and pastries, flower bouquets, and home and kitchen appliances. 

“Mother’s Day remains to be one of the most important gifting occasions in Southeast Asia. Our GrabAds report shows a surge in user activity one week before the day itself, across the region, as people start looking for ways to make this day extra special for their loved ones,” said Jennie Johnson, head of regional marketing at GrabAds. 

Johnson added, “This Mother’s Day, merchants and brands across the region have the opportunity to connect with consumers looking for the perfect gift for their mom via superapps like Grab.”

To celebrate the occasion, Grab will also be rolling out promos on GrabMart and GrabFood on May 14.

Singapore – One of Southeast Asia’s leading super app, Grab, has announced new in-app travel innovations and partnerships to provide travellers a safe, seamless, and hyperlocal experience as the region embraces a travel comeback. 

According to Grab, the enhanced travel experience was designed to give all travellers the assurance and confidence to explore their destination by empowering them to plan ahead, get a smooth ride the moment they touch down, and experience their destination like a local.

The new app enhancements include the new Traveller homepage, which allows overseas travellers to explore a city within the Grab app as if they were at the destination. Available for 33 of the top cities tourists visit in Southeast Asia, users can check out the Grab services present in the city, search and save places of interest, and explore the food options near their destination.

The app was also made available in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese languages to deliver a more intuitive experience for travellers from China, Korea, and Japan.

In the second half of the year, Grab will also release translated merchant menus in key cities across Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand into English, as well as a currency converter feature that will automatically display fares in travellers’ preferred local currency so that they don’t have to do manual conversions.

For travellers who prefer not to download another app, Grab has also teamed up with some of the world’s most popular apps such as WeChat, AliPay, Ctrip, Kakao T, Booking.com, and Uber to provide travellers visiting the region access to Grab’s ride-hailing services through these platforms.

“We want to be at the forefront of Southeast Asia’s travel revival, welcoming travellers back to the region with an enhanced Grab experience that is designed to help them travel with ease and peace of mind,” said Russell Cohen, group managing director of operations at Grab. 

He added, “No one knows Southeast Asia like we do, and our goal is not only to deliver the safest and most seamless mobility experience, but also encourage travellers to explore the richness of Southeast Asia like a local through our superapp offerings.”

In support of the revival of travel, Grab also announced new upgrades to its GrabUnlimited subscription package, giving its subscribers access to discounted airport rides at 89 airports across Southeast Asia.

Singapore – To develop a set of self-regulatory standards to establish and encourage industry best practices, the Digital Platforms Industry Association (DPIA), consisting of Deliveroo, foodpanda, and Grab, has released the first edition of its Code of Practice (COP). 

The newly released COP focuses on the areas of merchant development, as well as safety, support, and development for digital platform partners. The full COP is also publicly available on DPIA’s website. 

Moreover, the COP includes inputs from several other digital platform companies, such as Gojek and TADA, who are looking to join DPIA in the near future. The COP also contains the recent Advisory Committee on Platform Workers’ (ACPW) recommendations, as well as ongoing Tripartite Working Group (TWG) discussions. 

According to DPIA, future editions of the COP will be updated accordingly as the industry grows and evolves. The association, which was only inaugurated in August 2022, is also in talks with several other organisations on initiatives and programmes that will support rider welfare and upskilling efforts.

Since its establishment in 2022, DPIA has been taking an active role in initiatives and partnerships to target key areas of concern. The organisation also works on addressing concerns raised by riders in individual and industry-wide feedback sessions.

Malaysia – Leading superapp Grab has appointed its ten-year veteran Adelene Foo as its new managing director in Malaysia. In her new role, she will be responsible for overseeing the business strategies and operations of Grab’s businesses in the country. 

Foo brings with her a strong background in launching and scaling regional Grab businesses. Transferring to Grab in 2012 right after her consultant stint in Accenture Management Consulting, she first assumed the country head position of the super app for over 2 years through 2014. After this, she held a regional launcher position in 2013 and became the country head of Grab Indonesia in 2014. 

After leading the Indonesia team for a year, Foo started her regional roles for the superapp, being the head of Grab’s 2 wheels business, grab express, and grab merchant for over six years through 2021.

Russell Cohen, group managing director of operations at Grab, said, “Adelene’s proven credentials and entrepreneurial spirit in scaling and growing Grab across Southeast Asia fits perfectly for this next phase of growth for Grab in Malaysia and I’m so excited to welcome her back to the country leadership team.” 

Meanwhile, commenting on her new role, Foo said, “Grab is committed to the long-term development of Malaysia. I look forward to working with the team to focus on introducing more affordable access to the best of our platform, create more earning opportunities for our partners, help more micro-entrepreneurs digitise and grow, and train more talent to support Malaysia’s growth in the digital economy.”

Aside from new her role at Grab, Foo will continue to lead the Malaysian upscale supermarket chain Jaya Grocer as its chief executive officer.

Jakarta, Indonesia – GrabKitchen, the cloud kitchen arm of tech and superapp company Grab, will be closing its operations in Indonesia by December 19, resulting in layoffs amounting to around 10 to 20 people.

A report from Tech In Asia notes that GrabKitchen saw inconsistencies in its growth in the local market. In its four years of operations, GrabKitchen has seen its business move to an asset-light business model.

Mayang Schreiber, chief communications officer at Grab Indonesia, said, “This situation forced us to take a difficult decision, which is not to continue our GrabKitchen operations in Indonesia.”

Regarding the layoffs, Grab said that some of its laid-off employees will be transferred to other divisions under Grab’s operations. They will receive compensation and fulfilment of obligations in accordance with the country’s regulations.

At the moment, GrabKitchen has over 48 foot points across Indonesia.

The GrabKitchen shutdown and layoffs contradicts Grab’s recent statements, stating that they won’t be seeing large layoffs despite the weak market.

“Around mid-year, we did some kind of specific reorganisations, but I know other companies have been doing mass layoffs, so we don’t see ourselves in that category,” Alex Hungate, chief operating officer at Grab, told Reuters in September.

However, Hungate did note back then that they will be shutting down its ‘dark stores’ or storage facilities for its groceries, and slowing the growth of its cloud kitchens.

“The other area where we’ve really tightened our strategic intent is in financial services where we were growing payments, wallets and non-bank financial lending quite significantly off-platform and on our platform,” he added.

The layoffs brought by the GrabKitchen shutdown follow a slew of similar updates globally, including with Carsome, Shopee, Netflix, Snap, Oracle, and Hootsuite. 

Singapore – Global financial services company Mastercard and superapp Grab have joined hands to launch the ‘Small Business, Big Dreams’ regional programme to digitally upskill gig economy workers and small businesses in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. This collaboration is part of Strive Community, a global philanthropic initiative developed by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and Caribou Digital that aims to support the resilience and growth of five million small businesses around the world.

The new regional programme includes the launch of two online business courses for Grab’s driver and delivery-partners aspiring to start new businesses, and small business owners seeking to grow in a competitive digital economy. It aims to enable small businesses to reach their full potential by supporting them to digitise their operations, unlock their access to financial services, and more effectively participate in the digital economy.

The two new online courses, namely the ‘Driver Entrepreneurship Toolkit’ and the ‘Small Business Toolkit’, were created based on survey insights from over 34,000 driver-partners and 600 small businesses in the region. Although almost all small businesses surveyed use smartphones for their businesses, 42% still rely solely on paper and pen to manage their businesses.

“Many Southeast Asians working in the informal sector aspire for more, but the reality is that a lot of them do not have the means or the opportunity to access quality training programs. Through our partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, we hope to give gig workers and small businesses a boost to get started. Our ‘Small Business, Big Dreams’ programme will equip them with business knowledge and practical skills through a structured learning journey tailored to their needs and interest areas,” said Cheryl Goh, group head of marketing and sustainability at Grab.

Meanwhile, Payal Dalal, SVP of social impact, international markets, and centre for inclusive growth at Mastercard, commented that they are delighted to work with Grab on this initiative that will boost digital capacity and inclusion amongst aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses post-pandemic.

“Mastercard has globally committed to bringing a total of 1 billion people and 50 million micro and small businesses into the digital economy by 2025. Today’s announcement follows the success of Mastercard Academy 2.0 in Indonesia, Business Cell in the Philippines, BSR’s HER Project Digital Wage in Cambodia, and Care Ignite in Vietnam, which have empowered millions of small businesses to access technology, training, mentorship, and financial services,” she said.

Singapore – The three major food delivery platform companies in Asia are setting aside their competition for now as they join forces to form an association that would become a watchdog for the industry and its stakeholders in Singapore.

Deliveroo, foodpanda, and Grab form the Digital Platforms Industry Association (DPIA) where they will be strengthening the frameworks, guidelines, and policies to support their delivery partners and merchants in Singapore.

“For platform companies, the well-being of our delivery partners and merchants across the marketplace is paramount. That’s why DPIA was established – to consolidate the deep industry expertise of platforms and shape the development and growth of the industry within Singapore’s national economy,” shared the three platforms. 

As an industry representative, DPIA will be tapping on the expertise and experience of its member platform companies to enhance industry best practices and support Singapore’s digital economy. In addition, DPIA said it will also be providing upskilling opportunities and strengthening existing health and safety standards for its members’ delivery partners and merchants. 

Since 2021, DPIA’s members have actively contributed to the consultation process with multiple government stakeholders, the National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA), and industry stakeholders in the bid to better support delivery partners. They are also working with the Workplace Safety and Health Council (WSHC) on guidelines for platforms and employers to boost road safety practices among delivery partners. 

In the coming months, DPIAl said it will be identifying areas of improvement and collaborating with the government and industry stakeholders such as the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF). 

It will be creating solutions that would “reflect the voices of its delivery partners and merchants”, both of whom are core to platform companies’ operations. In addition, DPIA intends to launch an industry code of practice to be adopted by its members. The code will incorporate industry best practices and principles relating to health and safety of its delivery partners and merchant development. 

Singapore – Global beverage company Coca-cola and super-app Grab have teamed up to unlock growth opportunities in a booming digital consumer market within Southeast Asia. The partnership will bank on Coca-Cola’s extensive offline retail presence and Grab’s large online network.

Both companies will also collaborate on impact initiatives to accelerate digital skilling for merchants and promote convenience and an array of beverage choices for consumers.

The landmark partnership spans six Southeast Asian countries including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. However, the partnership in Thailand covers all areas except GrabFood.

The partnership revolves around four objectives, namely growing with merchants through GrabFood and GrabMart, engaging consumers in refreshing ways through GrabAds, enhancing support for small, traditional merchants through digitalisation, and using both company’s combined scale to do good in Southeast Asia.

Sam Way, head of offline to online at Coca-Cola ASEAN & South Pacific, said, “At Coca-Cola, we are transforming our business model for the digital age. This new multi-market partnership extends our online reach and enables us to stay ahead of changing shopper trends as we drive customer value and growth through digital enablement.” 

He added, “We are thrilled to be collaborating with a forward-thinking company like Grab and we look forward to working closely to build new consumer connections and offer a new level of convenience to digital consumers in the region.”

Meanwhile, Saad Ahmed, regional head of merchant at Grab, commented, “We are very excited to be Coca-Cola’s preferred partner in Southeast Asia. This partnership also reflects our shared commitment to support merchants to further grow their business through digitalisation and financial services.” 

He added, “By enabling them to capture new and unmet consumer demand, we enable them to provide better services to our users. This in turn strengthens brand love for Grab and Coca-Cola.”