Most of the apps in Malaysia are now advertising services to help shoppers do their grocery shopping in view of the current global pandemic crisis.
TheLorry
TheLorry, Malaysia’s trusted and affordable mover, has launched TheLorry Grocer on 28 March 2020. This is a new platform that enables customers to order their supplies or arrange for deliveries to anywhere in the city, all within minutes.
TheLorry also has a new service to help protect the elderly during this trying period by helping them with their grocery delivery needs. The number to call is+6016-2992189.
The downside of this service is the high delivery fee of an estimated RM 36.
Note: TheLorry Grocer cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracy or omission. TheLorry will attempt its best to fulfil orders placed by shoppers. In the event that an ordered product is not available, TheLorry Grocer reserves the right not to replace it with a similar item of equivalent value.
Maxim Malaysia
E-hailing app Maxim has a much lower starting rate for delivery. The buy and delivery service starts from 6.50 for city rides. The minimum price includes 1.0km, any distance beyond that: RM 1.20/km.
Intercity:
Trips outside the city from RM 6.50. The minimum price for a one-way ride includes RM 1km. Any distance beyond that RM 1.10/km. The minimum price of a round-trip includes 2 km. Any distance beyond that RM 1.00/km.
LalaMove
The Buy4U service has put a cap of the price of goods at RM 100 and below for motorcycle and RM 200 for car. The riders will use their cash for the purchase and will be reimbursed with the exact amount from the users when the delivery is completed.
Buy4U with motorcycle is RM 4 and car is RM 10. The service fee for motorcycle is RM 6 and car is RM 10. Therefore with Buy4U motorcycle, the total fee is RM 10 (RM 4 + RM 6) and for car is RM 20 (RM 10 + RM 10) for the purchase of grocery from Giant Superstore South City for delivery to an address in Seri Kembangan.
ZeptoExpress
Zepto.store by ZeptoExpress started operation on 25 March 2020. Deliveries are limited to Klang Valley, Seremban and Malacca for now.
Zepto.store is like an online grocery store with a wide array of products. The shipping fee for the address we put in Selangor is RM 15.00 for an order valued at RM 135.
Ooh, the first mala snack brand in Singapore, is bringing the mala flavour into more snack categories. From cassava chips to potato chips and peanuts, Ooh mala is now available in in the form of marshmallows.
The mala marshmallows are available as part of the Ooh Mala Trio Snacks Bundle in an Easter exclusive that comes with free Mala Marshmallows worth SGD 8. The bundle is available on Shopee for a price of SGD 18.50.
UFarm’s Benja Chicken, the world’s first brown rice-fed chicken by Charoen Pokphand Foods, is now available in the form of sausage. The better-for-you, nitrite-free sausages come in classic and cheese with a promotion price of THB 40 per pack (normal price THB 47) at 7-Eleven.
In another development, Siam Wisdom Delivery has created Benja Chicken Rice for delivery. The price is THB 150.
Google has released a series of new COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports to help public health officials make critical decisions to combat COVID-19. For market researchers, this report gives us a good idea of the mobility trends for grocery & pharmacy shopping between 16 February 2020 and 29 March 2020.
Here is a caveat from Google – “Location accuracy and the understanding of categorized places varies from region to region, so we don’t recommend using this data to compare changes between countries, or between regions with different characteristics (e.g. rural versus urban areas).
Malaysia: (COVID-19 cases as of 4 April 2020: 3,483)
The chart above clearly shows the incidence of panic buying in the lead up to and after the announcement of the Malaysia Movement Control Order (MCO) on 16 March 2020. The MCO officially went into effect on 18 March 2020. MCO is a partial lockdown where only essential services such as supermarkets, wet markets and pharmacy are allowed to opened but within a restricted time period. The MCO has since been extended to 14 April 2020.
In the subsequent days after the MCO was implemented, visit to physical shops fell into a tail spin as most people had already stocked up or were ordering online. We did notice an inverted U-shape in the coming days as this probably shows people started to return to physical stores to do some top-up shopping. But overall mobility trends for grocery and pharmacy fell 58% compared to the baseline in mid-February 2020.
Thailand (COVID-19 cases as of 4 April 2020: 2,067)
The Thais started avoiding going out from early March 2020, which was when the second wave of COVID-19 outbreak started. As of 29 March 2020, there were no nationwide lockdown yet. Only Bangkok imposed a closure of shopping malls and markets from 22 March 2020 to 14 April 2020, while allowing those selling food and essential consumer goods to remain open. Several other provinces such Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani followed suit.
During this period, mobility trends fell by 27% with less noticeable panic buying trend compared to Malaysia.
The Thai government has since taken a stronger stance by imposing a nationwide curfew from 2 April 2020 until 15 April 2020 banning all people from leaving their homes from 10pm to 4am.
Singapore (COVID-19 cases as of 4 April 2020: 1,189)
The first bout of panic buying occurred in Singapore in early February 2020 after the government raised its COVID-19 alert level to Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) from Yellow to Orange. The second spike happened after neighbouring Malaysia implemented MCO. Overall, visits to places like grocery and pharmacy fell by a mere 6% as confidence in the government ability to tackle the pandemic remains high.
As the number of cases continue to rise, Singapore finally announced on 3 April 2020 of a month-long partial lockdown from 7 April 2020 with the closure of non-essential services.
Philippines (COVID-19 cases as of 4 April 2020: 3,094)
On 16 March 2020, the Philippines declared the entire Luzon area in the Philippines under “enhanced community quarantine” (ECQ) with temporary closure of non-essential services with effect on 17 March 2020 until 12 April 2020. The lockdown in Metro Manila happened two days earlier on 15 March 2020. Davao City on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao implemented the ECQ on 4 April 2020.
The effect of the lockdown saw visits to grocery and pharmacy fell 59%. The flattening of the line indicates consumers were doing most of their pending in their neighborhood grocery stores like sari-sari outlets and stopped visiting bigger store format usually located far away from their homes.
Vietnam (COVID-19 cases as of 4 April 2020: 239)
Vietnamese consumers have become cautious and have gradually reduced travelling do their shopping. The mobility trend saw a 29% fall on 29 March 2020 from the baseline in mid-February 2020. So far, the Vietnanese governments have not imposed any lockdown but this might change as the number of cases keep on rising. Vietnam’s prime minister has already asked major cities to prepare for possible lockdowns.
Mobility is expected to continue to fall following Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s announcement of a 15-day period of isolation nationwide with effect from 1 April 2020 for 15 days with the option of extending to one month. The public is advised to stay at home and only go out if necessary for buying food and medicine or working in factories or production facilities that produce essential goods and other emergency cases.
Indonesia (COVID-19 cases as of 4 April 2020: 2,092)
The COVID-19 situation in Indonesia is worrisome. With the highest number of deaths in Southeast Asia, there is a high probability that COVID-19 cases in the region’s most populous country has been underreported due to the inadequate testing. The death rate in Indonesia is 9.1% compared to 5.2% worldwide and Malaysia’s 1.6%.
Even the nation’s spy agency has warned that the number of COVID-19 cases may rise to 106,287 by July 2020.
The Indonesian capital of Jakarta closed schools and tourist attractions in the city for two weeks from mid-March 2020. On 20 March 2020, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan imposed a state of emergency for two weeks until 5 April 2020 with closure of entertainment venues with limited public transportation service. The state of emergency was later extended until 19 April 2020.
Retailers and foodservice operators have taken measures to help curb the spread of COVID-19. PT Matahari Department Store said it is closinge its stores for 14 days from 30 March 2020 to 14 April 2020.
Indonesian consumers are already taking precautionary measures such as staying at home and avoiding public places. The mobility trend for Indonesia for grocery shopping fell 27%, reflecting consumer cautious sentiment.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo finally declared a COVID-19 public health emergency on 31 March 2020 with the proclamation of Government Regulation No. 21/2020 on large-scale social distancing. Such measures include the closure of schools and workplaces and restriction of religious activities. The annual mudik (mass exodus) on Idul Fitri has not been banned but is discouraged.
Following the outbreak of COVID-19, Indonesians are turning to jamu and vitamin C to boost their immunity. As a response to growing interest in immunity, the Indonesian coffee chain Fore Coffee has introduced a new menu that taps into traditional Indonesian herbs (jamu) to improve the body immune system.
Google Trends – jamu and vitamin C as keyword search – Indonesia. Date range 3 April 2018 to 4 April 2020
Fore Coffee’s latest jamu drinks are Wedang Uwuh and Temulawak Rempah. Wedang Uwuh is a traditional drink from Yogyakarta and is made from Biancaea sappan, cloves, bay leaf, ginger and lemongrass, sweetened with rock sugar or palm sugar.
Temulawak Rempah is a drink made from Javanese ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, lemongrass, rock sugar and palm sugar offering various benefits to the body including detox, antioxidant, anti-inflammation and anti-bacteria.
Capitalising on consumer interest in milk tea, URC has recently introduced C2 Cool and Clean Milk Tea in the Philippines. The new milk tea drink is made with the 100% natural tea and creamy milk.
The introduction of C2 milk drink in wintermelon and chocolate flavours comes at an opportune time to provide consumers with a budget friendly milk tea in a bottle during the lockdown period. C2 Milk Tea is available at 7-Eleven for a price of PHP 30 per bottle.
Nestea Milk Tea in carton pack is the closest competitor in the RTD milk tea space.
The new LuLu Hypermarket Malaysia click and collect service, launched on 3 April 2020, has a shopping list that covers 323 SKUs at the time of writing. The list contains 27 fruit and vegetable SKUs, more than what’s being offered at AEON Drive-Thru service.
LuLu Hypermarket click and collect service is currently available at 2 outlets – Capsquare, KL and 1Shamelin Mall, Cheras. The minimum order is RM 10. The website will accept order until 14th April 2020 or until further notice.
Do note, any request of purchase for any item other than listed products will not be entertained. Only cashless payment method is acceptable. The maximum quantity per item is currently set at 2. The operation hour is from 9am to 5pm.
The AEON Drive-Thru service by AEON Group in Malaysia for both AEON Big and AEON Supermarket has received a lot of media coverage lately. With online delivery coming to a standstill due to the surge in order in recent weeks, the order and pick-up model can be an attractive option for consumers to get what they need quickly without having to leave their cars.
However, AEON Drive-Thru does have a shortcoming. The service suffers from the lack of choices. The product list at AEON Big Tun Hussein Onn contains around 140 SKUs. Do note that, the product list differs by outlet and format – AEON Big/AEON Supermarket.
At AEON Big Tun Hussein Onn (Cheras), there are no perishables eg fruits and vegetables in the product list. The bakery option comprises only AEON private label bread.
At AEON Cheras Selatan, the situation improves with 9 perishables consisting of apples, potatoes, oranges, lemons, pak choy, iceberg lettuce, white garlic, red onion, mushroom etc. There is a cap on the number of order that can be placed on each item.
AEON STYLE Taman Maluri Product List
Luckily, consumers have the option to put in their request other products not on the list. The plus point for AEON Drive-Thru is there is no minimum order. The operation hour is from 10am to 6pm with pick up from 12pm to 6pm.
AEON Drive-Thru is available at 16 AEON Big outlets and 12 AEON Supermarket.
Update
AEON has improved the Drive-Thru service by updating the shopping list with more products that are relevant to shoppers. At AEON Big Tun Hussein Onn (Cheras), there are now fresh/frozen seafood and fresh meat options in addition to having more choices of fresh vegetables.
Without an e-commerce presence but still want to offer convenience to shoppers, hypermarket chain TF Value-Mart in Malaysia solves this problem by launching a new order and pick-up service during the current COVID-19 outbreak. The order and pick-up service is available at all 33 TF Value-Mart hypermarkets across 6 states in the country.
Shoppers are required to Whatsapp their shopping list including the stated quantity to the telephone number of the outlet they wish to pick up the goods. The operating hours are from 9am to 5pm. The minimum order is RM 150.
As TF Value-Mart operates in fringe areas, the minimum order of RM 150 can be too much to bear for consumers. Quite a number of the shoppers felt the minimum order should be reduced to RM 50. Moreover, most consumers have already stocked up their pantry. At the moment, most shoppers only want to replenish some of their perishables like dairy and bread with the total amount not likely to reach RM 150. A reduction of the minimum order to reflect the current consumer need is something TF Value-Mart can consider doing.
The Indonesian dairy company Cisarua Mountain Dairy (Cimory) has recently released a new range of yogurt in pouch format. The thick and creamy Cimory Squeeze (120g) is available in original, strawberry and blueberry. The pouch format is commonly positioned for children and offers the extra portability to tap into the on-the-go occasion.
Cimory has also introduced Yogurt Drink Low Fat (250ml), which does not have the sour taste. It is high in calcium and fibre. The low fat yogurt drink in PET bottle comes in two interesting flavours banana and strawberry-mango as well as original, blueberry and tropical fruits.
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