With the food delivery service sector expected to continue to grow, Grab Malaysia has released its 2020/2021 Food Trends Report which provides F&B businesses a comprehensive outlook on the local food delivery scene to help businesses innovate and adapt to changing consumer needs in the new normal. 

The pandemic has accelerated food delivery adoption and numerous studies have indicated that this trend will continue to grow in Malaysia post-pandemic. In fact, according to the report, 87% of consumers said they will continue ordering from food delivery platforms with convenience as their main reason for doing so. 

“2020 was a very challenging year for F&B businesses and we are grateful for the trust that they have placed in us. We hope that this Food Trends Report will equip F&B businesses with actionable insights about the food delivery industry, so that they can better leverage GrabMerchant tools to adapt to changing consumer behaviours and respond to new emerging trends. Grab is deeply committed to supporting our partners’ growth, and will continue to invest in building useful tools and providing relevant upskilling opportunities for them.” 
The report was developed in collaboration with NielsenIQ, based on insights from  food industry professionals, restaurateurs, consumer surveys, focus group discussions and Grab’s internal data,” said Tan Jiong Jian, Director of Commercial & Partnership, Grab Malaysia.

New Consumer Trends For Merchants to Leverage

– Upsized orders – Basket sizes have grown with many consumers ordering larger meals presumably for their families. Close to 70% of consumers are ordering on behalf of family members as compared to just over 60% in 2019. F&B businesses can leverage this by offering a variety of attractive family meal packages or provide trending food items.
– Growth in early-bird orders – Breakfast saw the highest growth in orders. Not only did the basket size increase by 20%, orders for coffee and tea also grew by over 6X. This is a good opportunity for businesses to not only introduce or expand their breakfast menu, but also bundle them with popular breakfast beverage options.
– Rise in health conscious eaters – 7 in 10 surveyed consumers indicated they want to eat healthier and 44% also shared that they are willing to pay more for healthier food. Restaurateurs can take advantage of this by offering healthy meals or alternative preparation options such as less salt, less sugar or organic ingredients. This in turn would enable merchants to expand their consumer base. 
 
Additional Tools for Stronger Growth

Grab has also provided platform tools for businesses who want to elevate the performance of their online business, all within the GrabMerchant superapp: 
– Ads Manager – Merchants can boost their visibility on the app through the Ad Manager feature in Grab’s merchant superapp. There are two ways that merchants can do this. 
– Banner Ad – Merchants can get the highest visibility for their outlets by placing
banner ads on the GrabFood homescreen.
– Search Ad – Merchants are able to take advantage of consumers’ browsing
habits by placing their stores at the top of GrabFood search results.

– GrabMerchant Insights Tool – Expand their business with the GrabMerchant Insights tool which provides businesses with access to an in-depth view of the latest consumer behaviour patterns and trends. By understanding these, merchants can get a head start and create the most strategic plan to boost their business sales performance.
– GrabAcademy Courses – A one-stop learning centre for merchants to learn best practices on how to run and grow their business, from the basics of branding to creating promotions and managing their social media presence.
In addition, Grab has also recently launched the ‘Grab Online Shop’, which provides an additional channel for merchants to utilize in order to grow their online presence, via their very own branded website. 

“We are fortunate to serve tens of thousands of food businesses, each with unique profiles, varying sizes and challenges. We hope to continue leveraging our data insights and technology to give merchant-partners valuable insights, more control over their online business and ultimately an even playing field,” added Tan.