Coca-Cola has teamed up with Singaporean superapp Grab to extend to its reach the growing number of online shoppers in Southeast Asia. The initiative will enable the beverage company to gain greater insights into its customers and offer them more convenience.“The partnership is in line with their business model transformation for the digital age,” Saad Ahmed, regional head of merchants at Grab, told Inside Retail.“It extends their online reach and enables them to stay ahead of changing shopper trends through our platform and consumer insights.”Ahmed noted that the partnership will enable Coca-Cola to offer a wider range of products online, enabling the company to capture new and unmet demand while increasing sales for merchants.It’s about upskillingTo be truly successful in Southeast Asia’s digital economy, Ahmed believes that Coca-Cola needs to help digitally upskill the small businesses that sell its products.“This includes teaching them the basics of running an online business, taking great product photos, writing effective product descriptions, creating digital marketing campaigns, and optimising sales strategy based on sales and customer insights,” he said.With this in mind, Grab and Coca-Cola plan to co-create educational content for merchants and make it available for free on Grab Academy, a training portal to support partner upskilling.“Today, Grab Academy already houses content from reputable knowledge partners like Microsoft, Mastercard and International Finance Corporation. We look forward to developing impact training content to support small business growth,” Ahmed said.In his opinion, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the bedrock of Southeast Asian economies, but they’re hard to reach.“Of the 71 million MSMEs in SEA, only 20 percent are on digital platforms. Our partnership enables us to tap into Coca-Cola’s large retailer network to bring more MSMEs onto our platform,” he said. Strategic symbiosisThe teams at both companies will be working together to bring small businesses onto Grab’s platform and set up online storefronts on Grabfood and Grabmart, so that they can receive online orders from users.“We will also help them set up cashless payment solutions in their retail stores so that consumers can conveniently pay for their in-store purchases using their GrabPay, Ovo and Moca cashless wallets,” Ahmed said.Merchants will have access to the Grabmerchant app, which has a suite of business solutions to help grow their online customer base and optimise their operations, while keeping costs in check.“Our plan is to help them leverage these tools to independently and confidently grow their online business,” he said.Engaging advertisementsOne of Grab’s distinct advantages lies in its advertising capabilities, and its app offers new ways for companies to connect and engage with consumers and drive sales back to merchant-partners.One such initiative is “Treat Nights”, which is a campaign to inspire consumers to discover restaurants and food options. Participating merchants can spotlight meals that come bundled with Coca-Cola beverages, and these are prominently featured on the app.To maximise visibility and conversion rates, Grab is taking a full-funnel marketing approach, leveraging both our digital and physical assets. “For example, in Malaysia, we had 100 Grab drivers go around Klang Valley advertising the campaign via bike boards,” he explained.When consumers see these physical advertisements and open the app, they’ll notice digital “Treat Night” ads in their home page with call-to-action prompts. Users can order and earn vouchers, receive free product samples, or spin a roulette to win attractive prizes.Solving supply chain problemsSupply chain inefficiencies are still a problem in Southeast Asian markets, and this partnership also aims to leverage solutions such as Grabexpress to address the issue.According to Ahmed, there are many mom-and-pop stores in the region that prefer to keep their inventory levels low due to limited shop space and tighter cash flow.“With Grabexpress, our last-mile delivery service, Coca-Cola can tap into our wide and readily available driver network to ship inventory to these stores in response to real-time demand,” he noted.Coca-Cola will also tap into Grab’s merchant-partner network to drive trials of its zero-sugar beverages to make it easier for consumers in the region to choose the beverages that fit their needs.