GRAB PHILIPPINES plans to expand its services to 40 additional cities this year as it pushes broader digitalization efforts across the country.
鈥淲e are launching another 40 cities this year, just to basically digitize as many cities as possible,鈥 Grab Philippines Country Head Ronald Roda told 大象传媒 on the sidelines of the company鈥檚 economic forum on Monday.
He said the expansion will cover transport, delivery, and financial services, depending on what local governments allow in each area.
鈥淚t is different per city. It really depends on what the city allows us. The easiest to launch is deliveries, followed by transport, and then lastly is financial services,鈥 he said.
鈥淲e usually lead with delivery because that鈥檚 the easy way and we have national partners to rely on,鈥 he added.
Grab Philippines currently offers transportation, food and package delivery, and financial services. According to its website, the company operates in about 25 cities nationwide.
Mr. Roda said the company has seen growing opportunities tied to the digitalization of grocery and retail services.
鈥淲hen a crisis hits, there鈥檚 ultimately opportunities. The first opportunity is really the digitization of groceries. Similar to the pandemic where food delivery was the thing, these days it鈥檚 really bringing fresh produce, then ultimately retail into digital,鈥 he said.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 what we have been focusing on for the past three months,鈥 he added.
Grab Philippines is also looking to expand its consumer cash loan business, which it launched in December last year.
鈥淲e have been very slow in giving out loans, but now I think it鈥檚 scaled because we鈥檝e gotten our group in terms of what鈥檚 the right credit policy and all of that,鈥 Mr. Roda said.
鈥淪o, we鈥檙e looking to scale lending mainly because the Grab base is fairly affluent,鈥 he added. 鈥 Ashley Erika O. Jose
