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Have you ever used an e-grocery service? I haven’t done so yet, as I enjoy wandering the aisles of a supermarket and picking out what I want. And if I need something urgently, I generally find it faster (and cheaper) to just head down to the nearby mom-and-pop shop.
However, I do see the perks of these services. You save time, you don’t have to lug your groceries home, and you might even save money by not buying random chips and candy because they looked good when you walked through the snacks aisle.
The e-grocery space is shaping up to be a pretty competitive one. In Indonesia, for example, consumers have a variety of options to choose from – although it seems that the winners, at least for now, are the brands that Indonesians are used to seeing on almost every street corner.
Today we look at:
- How Alfamart and Indomaret are leading Indonesia’s e-grocery race
- A Singapore-based cybersecurity startup that’s raised fresh funds
- Other newsy highlights such as HongShan’s plans to set up an office in London and why big tech firms prefer to set up their data centers in Malaysia, not Indonesia
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Klik Indomaret and Alfagift – the e-grocery arms of minimarket brands Indomaret and Alfamart – are outperforming other players in Indonesia’s e-grocery space, including GrabMart and Astro. Here’s how they’re achieving this feat:
- Leveraging what you have: Alfagift and Klik Indomaret have a significant advantage over other e-grocery players, as they can leverage their extensive physical store networks to reduce warehousing costs and facilitate more efficient deliveries.
- That’s pretty appealing: At the moment, they are also offering free deliveries with no minimum spend requirements, which appeals to price-sensitive Indonesian consumers. Plus, the two firms are able to serve customers outside of Indonesia’s major cities thanks to their minimarket networks’ reach.
- Question mark: However, at some point, both Alfamart and Indomaret will have to determine how to sustain their online businesses in the long run, as the free deliveries and lower prices that are helping both firms maintain their market positions cannot continue indefinitely.
Read more: How Alfamart, Indomaret beat e-grocers at their own game
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All along the watchtower
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