SINGAPORE, 21 Oct 2021 – Grab Financial Group (GFG), a leading Southeast Asian fintech platform, today announced the expansion of its ‘Grow with Grab’ suite of products and features to empower small and medium businesses (SMBs) across Southeast Asia to tap on the regional e-commerce market opportunity that is expected to be valued at US$172 billion in 2025. This is in line with Grab Financial Group’s move to be more merchant-centric in its offerings and support its merchants’ business growth across the region.   

Be Open for Business Online, in Minutes

To make the digital transition as smooth as possible for small businesses, Grab Financial Group launched GrabMerchant Commerce, a simple, cost-effective and powerful webstore builder platform, which boosts sales and reduces operational work and payment risks. Since the May launch of the pilot programme in Singapore, over 500 merchants have signed up, with businesses ranging from apparel, furniture, F&B and artisanal products. They have averaged a 6X increase in sales from when they first started their online businesses, with 83% of them activating GrabPay.  

More than just a webstore builder, the GrabMerchant Commerce platform enables small businesses to scale by offering tailored support in areas such as marketing and brand development, as well as  advanced operations such as automation, CRM, inventory and logistics. Best-practice sharing among the growing GrabMerchant Commerce community with advice from e-commerce specialists also accelerates growth for merchants. 

“GrabMerchant Commerce is simple to use and has enabled us to accept multiple payment modes easily. We have saved time taking orders manually with their seamless integration into Instagram and Facebook. Pricing is also competitive. Having a capable team and responsive account manager also puts my mind at ease.”’ said Chua Yun Cheng and Brenda Lee, founders of home-based business kombuchua.sg.  

With the success of the pilot programme, GrabMerchant Commerce will be scaled up, with more opportunities for merchant-partners to boost their sales. By end October 2021, selected GrabMerchant Commerce merchant-partners can be accessed via Grab’s new ‘Shopping’ icon, giving them exposure to millions of Grab users across Southeast Asia. GrabMerchant Commerce will be rolled out in Malaysia and the Philippines in 2022. 

Boost Sales with Flexible Payment Options  

Southeast Asia is the world’s fastest-growing region for mobile wallets driven by the e-commerce boom. In 2H 2021, Grab Financial Group accelerated GrabPay acceptance by SMBs across the region by establishing new partnerships with leading regional payment gateways such as 2C2P, AsiaPay, and Razer Merchant Services. Partnerships with top local payment gateways include Alldebit, CCPay, Fomopay, and Uniweb in Singapore; GHL System, iPay88, and Revenue Group in Malaysia; DragonPay, PayMaya, and PayMongo in the Philippines; and Haravan and Payoo in Vietnam.  

“Thousand Miles wanted to offer our customers a convenient and rewarding way to pay, and to leverage Grab’s extensive consumer base. Since enabling GrabPay in March 2021, we’ve had monthly TPV growth of 94% and a 90% uplift in our monthly transacting users,” said Serene Ho, Regional Brand Manager, RPG Commerce.   

In addition to GrabPay, GFG’s partnerships with 2C2P, AsiaPay, Razer Merchant Services, GHL System, and iPay88 also enable PayLater, Grab’s BNPL product, for their Southeast Asian merchant base.  

“We chose PayLater given Grab’s extensive platform and great reward system which entices customers to complete their purchases and unlock the next tier of rewards. In the five months after enabling PayLater, we have had a 3X increase in our monthly average TPV and monthly transactions on GrabPay. Our customers now enjoy an enhanced fuss-free shopping experience, and we are also able to reach a wider audience on the Grab app,” said Toh Teck Oon, Director, Megafurniture.  

“Digital payments are a key enabler to unlock e-commerce growth, and BNPL is fast rising in popularity as an e-commerce payment method. 9 in 10 Southeast Asians do not have credit cards and the flexibility of making interest-free payments is an attractive proposition which enables better financial management for them. With PayLater, consumers can pay next month and earn GrabRewards, or pay in four interest-free instalments. Merchants find PayLater compelling given the scale of Grab’s ecosystem with over 25 million monthly transacting users, and many of our PayLater merchants have reported increased basket sizes and check-out rates. We will keep forging new partnerships to enable many more Southeast Asian SMBs to tap on GrabPay and PayLater to power their e-commerce growth,” said Chris Yeo, Managing Director and Head of GrabPay, Grab Financial Group.

Underpinning such growth is the need for user safety and security when transacting online. GrabPay users are protected by multiple layers of security features including two-factor authentication (2FA) with Grab PIN and biometric authentication security measures such as fingerprint and Face ID. It is integrated with a 24/7 fraud detection engine with customised algorithms to detect and prevent unauthorised transactions. GrabPay is also compliant to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) – the most stringent certification in the payments industry. This certification and security features offer consumers further assurance that GrabPay is a safe and secure way to pay.   

Be Discovered by Millions of Grab App Users

The ‘Shopping’ icon was launched on the Grab app in June to facilitate merchant discovery by millions of Grab users across Southeast Asia. One in five Grab users have clicked on the icon and explored different categories of merchants across categories such as Fashion, Beauty, Electronics, Home and Living, and accessed merchant offers. To purchase products, users would be directed to the respective merchant’s website to make the transaction. Future feature enhancements include search and personalised offers to improve user shopping experience and increase conversion for merchants.

Building An Open Ecosystem to Support Growth   

“We are enabling more of our customers who love using GrabPay and PayLater to use both within and outside of the Grab app. The same safe, convenient, and rewarding experience is now available on many leading e-commerce sites across Southeast Asia. Our approach is to be an open ecosystem. To accelerate our payment acceptance footprint, we have partnered with global payment platforms such as Adyen and Stripe, and leading regional payment gateways such as 2C2P, AsiaPay, and Razer Merchant Services. We want to support our merchant-partners by enabling them to leverage the scale of the Grab ecosystem and our expanding suite of tools and products such as GrabMerchant Commerce and our working capital loans to grow their businesses,” said Reuben Lai, Senior Managing Director, Grab Financial Group.