Grab teams up with Shopee in latest logistics foray

Shopee’s head of business intelligence Martin Yu (L) and head of operations Karen Perez (CL) with Grab Philippines’ country marketing head Cindy Toh (CR) and GrabExpress operations manager Rondel Apelo (R) / Photo credit: Grab

Filipinos can now purchase goods from Sea’s ecommerce portal Shopee and have them delivered on the same day by Grab, thanks to a match-up announced by the two companies yesterday.

The partnership points to Grab’s ambitions in Southeast Asia’s growing last-mile logistics market, where a number of tech startups are looking to piggyback on the regional ecommerce boom.

For a limited-time fee of 25 pesos (about US$0.47), the ride-hailing firm’s GrabExpress service will deliver purchases from select Shopee sellers to anywhere in the Metro Manila area between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, from Monday to Saturday.

Shopee said it plans to expand GrabExpress same-day delivery to more merchants, as well as to brands using its B2C portal Shopee Mall in the coming months.

Grab’s next challenge

Grab has made it clear that it sees delivery and logistics as a key growth opportunity. Though still primarily known for ride-hailing, it’s already dabbled in these areas, having offered on-demand pick-up and delivery in Indonesia for some time.

Last month, it extended its on-demand food delivery service, GrabFood, to Malaysia and Singapore. This followed Grab’s acquisition of UberEats as part of its buyout of Uber’s Southeast Asian operations earlier in the year.

Grab CEO Anthony Tan launches Grab Ventures at Innovfest Unbound 2018 in Singapore. / Photo credit: Grab

When Grab CEO Anthony Tan launched Grab Ventures – the company’s startup accelerator and “innovation arm” – earlier this month, logistics was revealed to be one of its four themes, alongside transport, food, and financial services.

However, the Singapore-based firm is stepping into a crowded and highly competitive marketplace. The city-state itself has spawned a number of “last-mile” players that have netted millions in VC funding. Among them is Ninja Van, which raised a record-breaking US$87 million at the start of this year.

Competitors from farther afield include Hong Kong’s GoGoVan – which became the territory’s first unicorn following a merger last year – and Lalamove, which bagged US$100 million in series C funding last October to accelerate its Southeast Asian expansion.

But for smaller, motorcycle-based consignments – which will likely make up most of GrabExpress’ Shopee service in Manila – the biggest foe looks set to be Go-Jek.

See: Go-Jek’s hands-off approach to regional expansion may be a risky gamble

Broader alliance unclear