Grab future-proofs its merchants by sharing its past achievements and latest innovations through its event: GrabNext Conference 2023.

Throughout the years, Grab Philippines has provided Filipinos with ride-hailing, mobility, and even food delivery services for accessibility and convenience. In fact, it has 180 million users across Southeast Asia and a 91% relative market share in the Philippines—a true testament that it is a go-to superapp for people.

And this does not just pertain to users, but also to merchants in the food and beverage industry who have partnered with the brand.

Every year, Grab hosts its own GrabNext Conference to orient its merchants with their progress and what they have in store for them for the rest of the year. This year, they held it at SMX Aura last June 21, 2023. Here’s what happened and what merchant partners can expect from Grab:

Upcoming Technological Innovations to Watch Out For

Grab remains hands-on with helping MSMEs adapt to the ever-evolving landscape. That way, they can reinvent their business models and tailor their solutions innovatively. How? Through new tech enablement, which includes:

• Find and Dine: A virtual guide for customers who want to explore various culinary offers. With this, users can access restaurant profiles and everything there is to know about them—from operating hours to menus, reviews, and contact details. This function even comes with Dine-In Deals that allow users to enjoy discounted deals.

• Scan to Order (STO): A feature that aims to enhance the users’ in-dining experience, as it allows customers to scan menus, place orders, and make payments even from their seats. By providing a seamless dining experience, this function is expected to drive every merchant’s efficiency by at least 15%.

• Self-Pick-up (SPU): A feature that lets users place orders and pay remotely for a hassle-free time. All that’s needed is to input their orders and pick them up at the store after being notified that the meals are ready. 

• Marketing Manager: allows merchants to create single ad campaigns that reach various store locations, streamline their marketing efforts and maximize their reach. This also includes a forecasting widget that will allow merchants to predict the possible outcomes of their campaigns. 

With these functions, merchants—including non-tech-savvy MSMEs—can adapt to Grab’s innovations and use these functions to run their businesses smoothly. 

Staying True to Their Commitment to Merchants 

Grab Philippines Senior Director for Deliveries Anton Bautista shares, “We remain steadfast in our commitment to empowering MSMEs and businesses in the Philippines. By continuously reinventing business models, tailoring innovative solutions, and introducing industry-leading tools, we help safeguard the scalability and sustainability of our merchants as they navigate an O2O environment.”

During the event, merchants were also informed about the updated partner packs and how the three tiers—Basic, Platinum, and Premium—differ from one another. With that, merchants were able to determine which ones are best suited to their needs. 

“Leveraging our regular engagements with our merchant partners, we have refined and enhanced our partnership packages to offer unparalleled support to each and every one of them—regardless of their size, as we futureproof their success in the dynamic deliveries space,” Bautista adds. 

Businesses can learn from Grab and also try to host events that will equip merchants, especially the MSMEs to be more knowledgeable on how they can be prepared for the technological innovations they can leverage for their respective businesses. That way, businesses can be a step closer step to digitization, especially as technology continues to propel various industries forward.