Foodpanda has opened its 150th Pandamart grocery fulfilment store this week, just 16 months after the concept debuted in Singapore.
Pandamarts are so-called cloud stores, purpose-built to serve only deliveries and with no walk-in retail storefront.
Stores have now been opened in 40 cities across eight markets in Asia – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines.
Foodpanda says it can now ship more than 4000 grocery and household products, within 25 minutes of orders being received.
“Launching 150 Pandamarts across 40 cities in the midst of a pandemic was no easy task, but we realised the critical importance in bringing our consumers what they really needed quickly and safely, especially during times of movement constraints,” said Abhishek Sahay, director of new verticals at Foodpanda.
“Now that we’re operating in eight markets, our goal this year is to take Pandamart into more cities within our existing markets, plus launch in all 12 operating markets by the end of this year.”
Pandamart sites are chosen carefully based on analysis of customer data and roading networks to maintain the delivery time-frame goals.
The concept came to the fore in Malaysia when the government imposed a Movement Control Order (MCO) again early this year. Grocery orders increased by almost 70 per cent last month alone.
In Singapore, Pandamart offers more than 5000 products, offering – in addition to groceries and household essentials – unique offerings from homegrown SME brands such as Ooh Mala Chips, Ice Cream Cookie Co, and Prima Taste. Responding to growing demand for plant-based meat alternatives, Pandamart Singapore delivers products from Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat and Quorn.
Research firm Forrester reports that consumer adoption of online grocery services is expected to grow 30 per cent from 2019 to 2024 and its share of the overall grocery market will double from 5.1 per cent last year to 10.6 per cent in 2024.
