Delivery a permanent part of post-pandemic life says Grab trends report

DELIVERY is now a permanent part of post-pandemic life says a trend report released by the Grab app.

After the Golden Grab Awards late last month which honored the best merchants on the app, this month saw the release of Grab’s Southeast Asia (SEA) Food and Grocery Trends 2022 report.

According to the report, seven in 10 consumers view delivery as a permanent part of their post-pandemic life, and eight in 10 merchants say delivery is a must-have for their businesses. The report also says that consumers like the convenience and immediacy of these services “especially when they have to prepare for social gatherings.”

The average basket sizes expanded by 84% on GrabFood and GrabMart, according to the report, and young families with children are the most avid users, ordering food delivery at least five times per month, and groceries at least seven times per month. In the region, the single largest Grab Mart order made in the first six months of 2022 cost P27,900.

The obvious beneficiaries of these numbers were the winners at last month’s Golden Grab Awards, held at the Marco Polo Hotel in Ortigas. For example, the leading restaurants for every mealtime (that is: breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner) are fast food giants McDonald’s, Chowking, Starbucks, and Jollibee. For their midnight indulgences, people turned to KFC. On a related note, fried chicken is the No. 1 order on GrabFood, with close to 55,000 orders of fried chicken made every day.

According to the report, 92% of Filipino consumers eat at least one healthy meal every two to three days, and almost two out of five consumers tried plant-based alternatives in the last six months. Healthy meal orders on GrabFood shot up 12 times, and health and wellness sales grew two times on GrabMart. This is probably the reason why Human Nature’s sustainable cosmetics won the Shopaholic Favorites for Personal Care and the Zagana market won the same award for the Fresh Produce category. It must be noted that vape brand RELX took the prize for Shopaholic Favorites under the Vice category.

Instant noodles, canned food, milk, cultured milk, as well as evaporated milk and cream were among the top 10 most ordered items on GrabMart. Supermarket giants which dominated the awards were SM Markets, Ever Supermarket, and Robinsons Supermarket. However, smaller players like Recess Korean Wholesale Mart and even convenience stores like FamilyMart won awards (for the Hustle No Hassle award and Happy Hoarding award, respectively). As a mark of its ubiquity, MiniStop also took home an award as the most popular pickup point.

“With the latest Food and Grocery Trends report, we’ve seen how GrabFood and GrabMart have continued to find a place in the lives of Filipinos by conveniently giving them their needs and wants. Whether it’s from lunch with officemates, dinner for the family after a long day of work, or even groceries delivered instead of going out, we’re happy we’re able to maximize the Grab platform to be part of our fellow Filipinos’ daily routine,” said Anton Bautista, Grab Philippines Head of Deliveries and Business Development in a statement. — JL Garcia