Komsan Chiyadis
GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand
News
Product and Tech
Insights
Marketplace
Non-food merchants going places with Grab delivery
.
November 20, 2023
GrabMart is typically associated with grocery delivery, but there’s a florist who has seen her business come up roses on the platform.
Blooms: By M was just starting out when it joined GrabMart in 2020, just as Covid-19 was sweeping across the globe. While the pandemic hurt many businesses, it presented an opportunity for the full-service online gift store.
People stuck at home needed ways to connect with friends and family, creating demand for the delivery of gifts and care packages. On Valentine’s Day in 2020, Blooms: By M founder, Michelle He, experienced a surge in orders and dispatched 500 Grab deliveries over a few hours.
“During Covid, everything was closed, so people had nowhere to buy gifts,” said Michelle, whose home-based outfit grew to boast an office, warehouse, and dispatch centre. “But I’ve been gifting for so many years, so I know where to source gifts and how to get them prepared at the last minute.”
Grab orders now contribute to 65 per cent of Blooms: By M sales.
Blooms: By M sells cut flowers and artificial plants, chocolate and alcohol; add-ons such as balloons and soft toys, all complete with handwritten cards. Her store offers customers an end-to-end gift-giving experience. They can choose gifts, customise wrapping, and schedule deliveries.
Michelle uses Shopify to host and manage her online shop, with the Grab app integrated into the e-commerce platform. This enables customers to have GrabPay and Grab PayLater as payment options.
The integration resulted in the doubling of sales, with many customers checking out with GrabPay or Grab PayLater.
Grab orders now contribute to 65 per cent of Blooms: By M sales.
Joining GrabMart also allowed Michelle to reach a bigger, more diverse customer base in Singapore. And she could leverage GrabExpress and Grab’s islandwide delivery service to fulfil orders quickly.
“We request a delivery rider within five minutes of every order, and the order is ready to be collected within another five minutes,” she said.
Levelling up with business analytics
Michelle says she got a big leg up from the Grab Merchant Centre (GMC).
The GMC was created to help drive growth for small companies by providing business analysis reviews, organising events and workshops, offering concierge services, and arming owners with resources to maximise the Grab platform.
(Read more: Grab Merchant Centre’s new physical space was designed to help small and medium businesses grow digitally)
Michelle took advantage of the range of services—from in-person business consultations to networking sessions, marketing tools, and app integrations.
The GMC analyses data and suggests three recommendations to meet a merchant’s specific goals and objectives. GMC data yielded insights that Michelle used to better product offerings.
For example, data revealed that Blooms: By M lacked gift bundles in its catalogue—items customers regularly searched for online and on the Grab platform. This insight paved the way for + Bundle, a service where the store curates and packages customer favourites.
It proved to be a hit, prompting Blooms: By M to offer more bundles, such as its VDay + Bundle Deal and Happy Birthday Teddy + Bundle.
Michelle also attended merchant events, where she interacted with and learned from other business owners.
She said: “It allowed us to network with like-minded business owners, most of whom provided us with insider tips and tricks on how to thrive on the Grab platform.”
Preparing for a new season
As Blooms: By M continues to grow, Michelle is developing an automated customer and logistics management solution that fully integrates its app and website orders.
(Read more: The evolution of Grab’s merchant app: from order management system to digital toolkit for MSME growth)
“It will provide delivery options so we can request drivers and update customers on their order status. No more crossing over different platforms—we can maintain communication with all customers in one place, keeping them updated promptly and uniformly,” said Michelle.
While she has no immediate plans to set up a physical store, she wants to launch an experience centre to complement her operations.
“It’ll be like an art gallery or a science centre where customers can play around and experience our products,” she said.
About
Consumer
Enterprise
Quick Links
Komsan Chiyadis
GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand
COVID-19 has dealt an unprecedented blow to the tourism industry, affecting the livelihoods of millions of workers. One of them was Komsan, an assistant chef in a luxury hotel based in the Srinakarin area.
As the number of tourists at the hotel plunged, he decided to sign up as a GrabFood delivery-partner to earn an alternative income. Soon after, the hotel ceased operations.
Komsan has viewed this change through an optimistic lens, calling it the perfect opportunity for him to embark on a fresh journey after his previous job. Aside from GrabFood deliveries, he now also picks up GrabExpress jobs. It can get tiring, having to shuttle between different locations, but Komsan finds it exciting. And mostly, he’s glad to get his income back on track.
