It’s undeniable that Malaysia has gone through a challenging patch filled with uncertainty this year, however, it is beyond doubt that local businesses have also benefited from shifting online via the various platforms available. This is clear with the countless stories we see of traditional businesses reaping the benefits of going through digital transformation – from our neighborhood cafes to traditional market vendors and even home based sellers.

In spite of the challenges that face them, the strive and perseverance these businesses have to continue serving Malaysians is truly inspiring. As admirable as their accomplishments are, it’s important not only to provide alternative opportunities for businesses to grow, but also assist them to sustain their business when they do come online.

”Our aim is to ensure that as a platform, we not only provide businesses with an additional avenue to generate sales, but help to establish a constant flow of orders for them too. And to ensure this, we need to consider everyone in the ecosystem – merchants-partners, delivery riders and consumers, and come up with solutions and innovations that will be beneficial to all. Therefore, we are subsidizing the delivery fees and expanding our traditional food merchant footprint. This will help to drive more orders for these businesses and our delivery partners, while enhancing the affordability on our platform for budget conscious consumers,” said Sean Goh, Managing Director of Grab Malaysia.

Delivery fees as low as 50 cents nationwide from selected nearby local favourites

Since introducing RM2 delivery fees on GrabFood back in June, orders on the platform with delivery fees below RM5 grew by more than 3X in Klang Valley. With a clear growth for cheaper delivery fees from nearby restaurants, Grab is once again introducing lower delivery fees, by subsidizing delivery fees for both consumers and delivery riders. This ensures that while consumers are able to enjoy lower delivery fees, delivery-partners’ income will not be affected.

Delivery fees nationwide for consumers favourite eats will now be as low as 50 cents for selected restaurants less than 1.5 km away. This is aimed at encouraging more orders for smaller and independent restaurants, thus helping them grow and sustain through this period while also helping to grow orders for GrabFood’s delivery-partners.

Expanding ‘Food Courts by GrabFood” to digitalise traditional hawkers

Following the success of the first Food Court initiative, ‘Food Courts by GrabFood’ is expanding to more locations nationwide which will see over 100 food courts and close to 900 hawker vendors across the country adopting the ‘mix & match’ feature by the end of the year. The feature which was introduced earlier this year allows users to order from multiple stalls within a food court and only pay one delivery fee. This will give these vendors the avenue to maintain their operations despite having a loss in dine in consumers. In tandem, this also allows users to support local and traditional eateries affordably while still practicing social distancing.

On the new initiatives from GrabFood, Goh concluded that, “We want to do everything in our power to help all Malaysians through any challenges that they may be facing. Moving forward, we look forward to fortifying our platform and services even further through technology and innovations.”

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