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Hello readers,
My worst grocery shopping fear is a three-way tie between finding insects hidden within cabbage leaves, discovering that a bottle of soda has already been opened and drank from, and my Kinder Surprise egg turning up empty.
While online grocers can’t solve these problems, they can at least save us from the additional disappointment of having wasted our time and energy physically shopping for products that turn out to be unsatisfactory. As online grocers continue to grow, let’s dive into the online supermarket that’s getting the most hype in Singapore today.
In this edition, we look at:
- How RedMart is dominating the online grocery space in Singapore
- Grab contributing half of Southeast Asia’s food delivery GMV
- Other newsy highlights such as China demanding for tech giants’ consumer loan data, and WhatsApp and YouTube nearing half a million users in India
PREMIUM SUMMARY
“Cashier me if you can”
RedMart, Singapore’s leading online supermarket, is on the up and up. Ever since it was acquired by ecommerce giant Lazada, it has been seeing improved income growth and better margins.
- History: Founded in August 2011, RedMart is one of the first online supermarkets in the region. The company was acquired by Lazada in 2016, and the grocery platform was merged with Lazada’s ecommerce app at the beginning of 2019, which boosted RedMart’s revenue by 44%.
- Then the pandemic hit: Covid-19’s impact on RedMart’s business was immediate. Not only did the company see a 50% increase in sales at its peak last year compared to its pre-pandemic levels, the baseline in its daily sales has also grown.
- Not profitable yet: Online grocers in Southeast Asia are booming, thanks to the pandemic. But most are still struggling with profitability, and RedMart is not an exception. The company’s operating loss has continued to widen, growing by 25% in 2019.
Read the full story with charts: RedMart saw 3x income growth and better margins since Lazada buyout
(Psst, you can read this article plus get full access to other premium content, including podcast episodes, workshops, educational videos, and the company database when you start your 30-day trial subscription for just US$1 today.)
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