No time to drop by the store? Metromart will be your personal shopper

On-demand services are booming in Southeast Asia and they’re catching on in Manila, too.

A new Philippine startup called Metromart just launched to assist consumers in their shopping.

The company sends out “runners” to buy and deliver goods that are ordered by its users from stores listed on its site – and soon, its mobile app. For supermarkets, the company has personal shoppers “installed” and ready to take orders.

The hyperlocal service only displays stores within the customer’s vicinity – usually within a five mile radius from the customer’s address – and promises to deliver the goods to the user’s doorstep in 90 minutes. That’s a decent amount of time considering how terrible traffic in Manila can get.

“As we all know, traffic in the Philippines is a daily struggle and so is the frustration that comes with it. Metromart wants to cut your trip to the local store and have those items delivered straight to you,” co-founder Stefano Fazzini says.

No premium pricing

The idea to start Metromart was initiated by Stefano’s brother Christian, who wanted to start an online grocery service two years ago. But with their day jobs keeping them busy, it didn’t seem like the right time to start the business. Together with a third co-founder, Stefan Seifert, they decided to slowly put the pieces together early last year. They performed an extensive market analysis, which, Stefano says, prompted them to shift the business model from just grocery to any store delivery.

The company sends out runners who buy goods and deliver them in 90 minutes.

Metromart’s launch almost coincided with the news that online grocery delivery service HappyFresh was finally setting up shop in the Philippines. Although Metromart will face some serious competition from the heavily-funded Indonesia-based logistics startup in the grocery vertical, Stefano claims his company has a lot more to offer.

Apart from groceries, Metromart – as of the moment – delivers pet supplies, gadgets, pastries, wine, spirits, flowers, and even cosmetics. The company currently has 10 partner stores, including the retail giant SM supermarkets, and expects to add another 40 to 50 stores on its site within the year.

The site allows customers to purchase stuff from multiple stores in one checkout and have those items delivered altogether to their doorstep.

What’s more, Stefano says all prices on Metromart are the same as in-store, meaning there’s no premium on products delivered. There’s a delivery fee of US$0.86 per order, but if the total bill exceeds US$21.60, the fee is waived.

“Some other platforms have premium product pricing, which we think is not fit for the consumer market in the Philippines,” says Stefano, noting that most Filipinos are price conscious.

Running its own logistics