Six years on, Grab has grown from a startup attempting to solve Malaysia’s taxi woes to becoming Southeast Asia’s brightest stars. With over 100 million mobile app installs, an expansive network of 7.1 million drivers, delivery partners, merchants and agents, and a strong payment platform, Grab’s vision is to be Southeast Asia’s “Everyday Superapp.”
Being the everyday superapp could mean different things to different people. For consumers, it’s one-app access to everyday services like transport, food, logistics, shopping and financial services. For partners, drivers, merchants and agents, an expanded suite of services means higher potential revenue and reach.
The vision of being the ultimate everyday app becomes a reality today with a refreshed Grab app.
When you fire up the new Grab app, you’ll receive a personalised greeting as well as one tap access to your GrabPay e-wallet. There’s also easy access to everyday Grab services like transport, food, delivery services, mobile reloads, and now grocery delivery (with GrabFresh). Features are country-dependent.
For example, Indonesia offers a wide suite of services including mobile reloads through Pulsa. In Singapore, services are limited to transport, food, shuttle and grocery delivery currently.
A notable addition to the Grab app is a news feed. In its quest to be hyper-personalised, the app will display relevant, localised and useful information on the news feed. It can be reviews of nearby restaurants or malls, catch up with live 2018 FIFA World Cup scores, watch curated short films by local producers, or even games.
Content is contextualised for specific occasions, like what time to break fast during Ramadan, or whether to take a car or bike during the rainy season.
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Through a content partnership with Yahoo, you’ll also be able to catch up on the latest news right from the Grab homescreen. This will be available for Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines users starting this month. Grab said it will announce other local news partnerships in other countries soon.
Now richer with integrated services and relevant information, the brand new Grab app experience rolls out today in Singapore and Indonesia for iOS devices. Android users will have to wait till 18 July for the refresh. Grab said that the app will be introduced in other markets like Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines some time in Q3 2018.
Early impressions
Having played around with the app briefly after the launch today, I must say the app is indistinguishable from previous versions. The interface is pleasing and intuitive, with personalised information presented in a widget format. With the refresh, the app has transcended from being merely product or service-driven to a more information-driven concept.
Grab showed us the backend of how easy an widget can be created and customised, and this feature may be opened to partners in the future.
At this point, it’s looking good. Can’t wait for a local roll-out in Malaysia.
