Tag: delivery platform

Hong Kong – British food delivery platform Deliveroo is exiting the Hong Kong market after serving Hongkongers for over nine years. In a recent disclosure, Deliveroo has confirmed the market exit, and is selling several of its corporate assets to rival platform foodpanda, while the rest of the assets will be closed.

Deliveroo Hong Kong has nominated liquidators to manage the closure of the Hong Kong business and the remainder of its assets in the most efficient way possible. In a report from SCMP, Deliveroo has nominated Cosimo Borrelli and Kroll’s Jocelyn Chi to manage the closure of its business locally.

The platform noted that in 2024, Hong Kong represented 5% of Group GTV and had a 5 percentage point negative impact on International GTV growth.

“There are several dynamics specific to the Hong Kong market which led the Board to consider strategic options and, given the Group’s commitment to disciplined capital allocation, determine that it would not serve shareholders’ best interests to continue to operate in Hong Kong,” the company said in a press statement.

Meanwhile, Eric French, chief operating officer at Deliveroo, commented, “We want to thank all our employees, consumers, riders and restaurant and grocery partners who have been involved in our operations in Hong Kong. We have been proud to serve so many people such amazing food over the past nine years.”

Deliveroo Hong Kong will remain live up until April 7 this year.

Meanwhile, Delivery Hero, foodpanda’s parent company, has confirmed that it is acquiring select assets from Deliveroo. 

Following this, Deliveroo customers and couriers in Hong Kong will be redirected, and certain vendors will be onboarded to the foodpanda platform. This will expand foodpanda’s offering, providing customers with access to a broader selection of restaurants and grocery businesses, including some previously only available on the Deliveroo platform. Vendors will also benefit from access to a larger customer base.

“Delivery Hero’s decision to further invest in Hong Kong reflects its commitment to maintain a sustainable delivery ecosystem that provides the best value for its foodpanda customers, couriers, and business partners,” the parent company said.

Competition in the food delivery space in APAC continues to be demanding, with Uber recently showing interest to buy foodpanda’s Taiwan business for $950m, only to be blocked by the country’s competition watchdog. On another note, there were several media reports as well that Grab is reportedly acquiring rival Indonesian platform GoTo, to which the latter has denied.

India –  In celebration of Children’s Day, BigBasket, an India-based online grocery delivery platform, has partnered with advertising agency Talented for a campaign offering frustrated parents a quick toy delivery service to end their kids’ boredom.

The multi-city outdoor campaign is part of BigBasket’s push into the quick commerce race. Alongside its usual offerings—fruits, vegetables, pulses, and poultry—customers can now have a wide range of toys and games delivered to their doorstep in just 10 minutes.

BigBasket aims to assist frustrated parents dealing with bored children by providing a quick and easy way to entertain them when all other options have been exhausted.

Speaking on the campaign, Raagaleena Sripada, marketing head at Big Basket Retail, said, “So many aspects of parenting have evolved—from how we show our affection to kids to how we apologise to them. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the ease with which the kids get bored! You may try to entertain them with all kinds of traditional or known games, but you will still land with a bored kid and a frustrated parent! ”

“Our attempt with this campaign is to offer a quick rescue from such situations—by delivering a great set of toy brands such as Lego, Hotwheels, Hasbro, and many more in 10 minutes,” Sripada added. 

PG Aditiya, co-founder and CCO at Talented, further explained, “As a parent myself, I know that keeping children stimulated is a challenge, and the only ammo we have is dated methods we grew up with. So with this campaign, we showed tough love to parents and parent-adjunct figures who don’t want to own up to the fact that they’re objectively unentertaining. We banked on their deep-seated insecurity to pitch more child-friendly ways of spending time together using toys and games from BigBasket.”

The outdoor campaign is currently live in Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad, with additional activations planned for the rest of the month.

Singapore – Food and grocery delivery platform foodpanda has launched its latest ‘Meal For One’ initiative, offering curated set menus designed for solo diners at lower prices.

With Meal For One, customers can now order single-person meals on the foodpanda app without a minimum order value and enjoy lower delivery fees, making it easier and more affordable to order food for one.

The feature is currently available in seven markets in Asia, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

With close to 20,000 restaurants offering Meal For One menu options, this initiative will be reinforced and rolled out across the region in the coming months.

Additionally, the order process has been streamlined for minimum fuss and maximum convenience. Customers can access the Meal For One menu through a dedicated category on the app homepage, ensuring they can quickly find their desired items.

Furthermore, they can easily customise their drinks and sides with simple add-ons, reducing choice paralysis and simplifying meal decisions.

Talking about this initiative, Luc Andreani, chief operating officer at foodpanda, said, “More people in Asia are moving to urban areas and living alone for work. Meal For One is perfect for these solo diners, allowing them to order exactly what they need, without a minimum delivery order value.”

“It also caters to their busy lifestyles via curated and affordable set menus, reducing choice overload often experienced when browsing on food delivery apps,” he added.

Singapore – Around 61.8% of platform workers enjoy platform work, but a staggering 81.4% of them agree that they should be treated with more respect, a survey by DPIA revealed.

The survey provides a deeper look into the platform workers’ motivations, intentions, and experiences doing platform work in Singapore.

Based on the data collected, people engaged in platform work come from a diverse background and are categorised into four groups: the opportunists, who use platform work to earn alongside their existing careers; the switchovers, who prefer platform work over their regular jobs; the hustlers, who perceive platform work as a means to secure their dreams; and the explorers, who are not very committed to their platform work and are still looking for something they truly enjoy.

But even with varying motivations and reasons, the majority of the workers actually see platform work as more than a means to an end, with 92.2% stating they are amenable to platform work and 61.8% enjoying the nature of platform work in and of itself.

Some of the key motivators for platform workers, as revealed through the survey, are the platform work being vital in their career (53%), the work flexibility it offers (52.3%), and it being an important source of supplementary and temporary income (35.9%).

However, despite the majority feeling fulfilled with platform work, the workers’s day-to-day operational challenges and lack of respect received from society are among their major pain points.

Around 60% of platform workers raise concerns about compulsory CPF contributions and 55.9% of work injury compensation. They also shared that the public attitude towards them tends to lack consideration, and their choice to engage in platform work is disregarded.

Platform workers noted the difficult treatment they receive from drunk and rowdy passengers, disrespect from family members, as well as inconsiderate consumers and merchants who make their working environment unnecessarily uncomfortable.

All these concerns reflect on the survey data, with 25% of platform workers feeling that they were not sufficiently respected in their line of work and 81.4% agreeing that they should be treated with more respect.

With these concerns raised in the survey, platform companies continue to be the go-to option for assistance for the majority of platform workers (72%) during disputes. However, 18.7% reported disagreements with platforms’ handling of issues.

Singapore – On-demand delivery platform Lalamove launches the ‘Make a Pawfect Move’ campaign to allow users in Asia and Latin America to help abandoned pets by donating their loyalty points.

Lalamove also partnered with SOSD, an animal shelter based in Singapore that rescues, rehabilitates, and finds new homes for stray dogs, granting them a renewed chance for a better life.

Through this new campaign, users can send their love to furry friends at SOSD by registering as members of Lalamove Rewards and accumulating LalaPoints. With a minimum of 1,250 LalaPoints, SDG5 will be donated to SOSD to provide two nourishing meals for a furry companion.

Lalamove’s ‘Make a Pawfect Move’ campaign is an extension of its ‘Deliver Care’ initiative. The campaign aims to better the lives of abandoned dogs through donations while also helping to support their shelter ‘paw-rents’ who pour their hearts into keeping the group running at SOSD.

Joining hands with pet lovers, Lalamove is encouraging everyone to join the cause and spread the word to paws-itively donate their LalaPoints to create a tail-wagging, paw-fect world for furry companions.

Alex Lin, managing director at Lalamove, said, “In recent years, the number of pet owners, particularly for dogs, in Singapore has surged from 70,000 in 2019 to 87,000 in 2022. This growing affection for pets signifies a shift in how people perceive their furry companions, treating them as beloved family members. We, like many Singaporeans, share this love. That’s why a ‘Pawfect Move’ is exciting, as it brings together our Lalamove users with a passion of ours to help pets in need. Lalamove consistently supports various aspects of pet life, including delivering essentials to our vast partner network of pet suppliers.”

“With the collective support of 57,207 active Singaporeans in our Lalamove Rewards Programme and our partnership with SOSD, we hope to raise awareness about animal welfare and create a positive impact in the lives of our beloved furry friends,” he added.

Meanwhile, Magdalene Eng, head of outreach and fundraising at SOSD, also commented, “Lalamove’s generous support will empower us with essential resources and supplies to enhance the living conditions and medical care for our rescued pets, ensuring they receive the highest level of care during their journey to adoption.”

Hong Kong – To promote the growth of quick commerce in Hong Kong, delivery platform foodpanda has launched a 24/7 pandamart O2O concept store in the country, which is also its first O2O concept store in the Asia-Pacific region.

The said concept store specifically located at Sai Ying Pun district adopts an omnichannel retail strategy blended with online and offline channel integration.

The store contains a wide range of fresh and seasonal produced frozen foods and drinks. Moreover, customers can enjoy the “HOT PICKS” section which features the best-selling products every month to enhance their O2O shopping journey and brand experience.

In addition, customers can instantly place an order for desired products in the store using the foodpanda app and can pick up their order within 5-10 minutes.

Aside from Hong Kong, the concept store was also introduced in Singapore.

Ryan Lai, chief executive officer at foodpanda Hong Kong, said that they are looking forward for the positive impact of the concept store to support the growth of their wider ecosystem whilst enhancing the customer journey as it creates more immersive experiences for the customers.

“foodpanda has always been committed to supporting local brands, including the local agriculture community. We hope to leverage our influence to act as a bridge between consumers and local farms, thus promoting the importance and fostering the growth of local agriculture and aquaculture through the expansion of their retail channels,” Darren Luk, director of quick commerce at foodpanda, added.

This month, foodpanda has also launched ‘bekal by foodpanda’ in Malaysia with which users can now avail of halal food item deliveries.