GRAB PHILIPPINES plans to expand its services to 40 additional cities this 12 months because it pushes broader digitalization efforts across the country.
“We’re launching one other 40 cities this 12 months, simply to mainly digitize as many cities as possible,” Grab Philippines Country Head Ronald Roda told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the corporate’s economic forum on Monday.
He said the expansion will cover transport, delivery, and financial services, depending on what local governments allow in each area.
“It’s different per city. It really depends upon what the town allows us. The simplest to launch is deliveries, followed by transport, after which lastly is financial services,” he said.
“We normally lead with delivery because that’s the simple way and we now have national partners to depend on,” he added.
Grab Philippines currently offers transportation, food and package delivery, and financial services. In line with its website, the corporate operates in about 25 cities nationwide.
Mr. Roda said the corporate has seen growing opportunities tied to the digitalization of grocery and retail services.
“When a crisis hits, there’s ultimately opportunities. The primary opportunity is admittedly the digitization of groceries. Just like the pandemic where food delivery was the thing, lately it’s really bringing fresh produce, then ultimately retail into digital,” he said.
“And that’s what we now have been specializing in for the past three months,” he added.
Grab Philippines can be trying to expand its consumer money loan business, which it launched in December last 12 months.
“We have now been very slow in giving out loans, but now I feel it’s scaled because we’ve gotten our group when it comes to what’s the proper credit policy and all of that,” Mr. Roda said.
“So, we’re trying to scale lending mainly since the Grab base is fairly affluent,” he added. — Ashley Erika O. Jose