Helping merchants thrive: The next evolution of Grab’s finance tools

Ana Lei, Lead Product Manager, Transaction Platform

. June 24, 2025 . Regional

Open the Grab app in any major Southeast Asian city, and you’ll see dozens—if not hundreds—of food delivery options nearby.

That variety is what makes Grab so delightful, powered by countless MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) carving out their niche. Grab has always aimed to serve and empower this long-tail of small merchants through our powerful Grab Merchant app.

This app undergoes re-designs and evolutions—just like the consumer-facing app Grab users in Southeast Asia are familiar with.

One key feature of Grab’s Merchant app is currently getting a big revamp: The finance feature that helps merchant-partners—for example restaurant owners—keep track of sales and earnings. We want to make it more intuitive and practical for everyday use. It’s a complex task!

(Also read: The evolution of Grab’s Merchant app)

Managing multiple streams of income

When GrabFood launched in 2018, its singular focus was to serve online orders and instant deliveries.

Now, merchant-partners on our platform juggle multiple streams of income—online GrabFood or GrabMart orders, in-store payments via GrabPay or digital vouchers. They may also have taken out loans or insurance through our app, and spend on digital ad campaigns to attract new customers.

With the update of the finance management feature, we’ve introduced clearer labelling and reorganised the hierarchy of information so merchants can see what matters most at a glance.

Phase One:Clearly structured and labeled finance report

Previously, it wasn’t always easy to understand which income or expense was related to what. It lacked clear and intuitive labeling. We’ve significantly overhauled this aspect of the app, and also made it easier to filter transaction history by date ranges and types.

Additionally, we have reorganised the information hierarchy in this feature, bringing to the front what matters most to merchants when they open the app.

Phase Two: Differentiated user roles for different functions

Our first priority was an improved user experience, but we have more coming up.

In phase 2 of the finance feature revamp, we’ll be splitting the finance management functions into two separate “tiles”.

The finance tile shows all information required store owners and managers to perform bank reconciliations. That is, to confirm that income and expenses logged on the app match what actually went in and out of the corresponding bank account.

Meanwhile, the new cashier tile shows information related to in-store transactions, which allows employees, or store owners, to perform in-store sales reconciliation against the point-of-sale (POS) system. That way, all transactions, including cashless payments, voucher redemptions, and so on, can be kept track of easily.

Merchant experience matters

What may sound like a small step to us, is a big improvement for Grab merchant-partners who use these finance features on a daily basis.

They’ll be able to keep track of their finances better, and require less individual assistance from Grab to problem solve.

Phase one of the redesign is already rolled out to a subset of merchants, while Phase two starts in July this year.

Looking forward, we will continue to improve the way merchants manage their businesses’ finances. We’re envisioning a phase three, where we introduce more personalisation and allow for individual queries via an AI Assistant.

Thriving merchants are the backbone of the Grab experience. That’s why we work just as hard to improve their experience as we do for consumers.

Food and deliveries