Online Grocery Shopping App HappyFresh Sees Double-Digit Growth in Indonesia, Asia by 2020
Jakarta. The market for online grocery shopping in Indonesia and other Asian countries could see a double-digit growth in market turnover to be worth S$19 billion ($13 billion) by 2020, driven by the rise of the young, working class population in urban areas across the region, according to Jakarta-based grocery shopping smartphone app HappyFresh.
In a statement received by the Jakarta Globe on Monday (1/2), HappyFresh projected that middle and upper class consumers in Indonesia are set to drive the trend of online grocery shopping ahead.
“We are seeing an 'uberization' of the retail industry in Asia. The outlook has never been more promising," Markus Bihler, chief executive officer of HappyFresh, said in a statement on Monday, referring to the on-demand ride-sharing app Uber.
"Opportunities abound in this region with its sophisticated food-loving consumers, growing wealth and rapid urbanisation. The continued increase in mobile adoption and broadband penetration has helped boost our online grocery sales."
Traffic congestion, a phenomenon that's notorious in Jakarta and Surabaya, is also a big factor for people to start shopping for their grocery online, according to HappyFresh.
The smartphone app noted that working mothers currently outnumber all other customers in terms of online grocery shopping, with dairy products and produces, such as milk and eggs among the top purchases.
Young professionals and expatriates followed with top buys in tomatoes, spaghetti and chicken breast, according to a statement.
The startup, which secured a $12 million funding led by Singapore's Vertex Venture and Sinar Mas Digital Venture last year, allows users in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand to shop for groceries through a smartphone app. In Indonesia, HappyFresh partners with Ranch Market and Lotte Mart.
"As a differentiator, HappyFresh partners with supermarket retailers, particularly the [small and medium-sized enterprises] who do not have the capacity or ability to invest in technology, to go digital and reach out to new set of customers," Bihler said.
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