Incoming: Lazada app for RedMart shoppers, as group targets to expand presence in Singapore and the region
Lazada and RedMart announced that from March 15, RedMart’s products and services will be integrated into Lazada’s mobile application.
SINGAPORE — In a bid to grow their online grocery business here, Lazada and RedMart announced that from March 15, RedMart’s products and services will be integrated into Lazada’s mobile application.
In the longer term, they are looking to capture a bigger slice of the market here and eventually expand into South-east Asia.
With the integration, RedMart customers will have to use the Lazada app or website to place orders.
They will continue to have access to RedMart services such as two-hour delivery time slots during selected hours when buying grocery and supermarket products, and they will have more digital payment options by using the Lazada Wallet, for example.
RedMart customers will be able to move their accounts to Lazada’s platform, and they can still see their order history and lists of frequent purchases.
Making the announcement on Thursday (Jan 31), Mr Roger Egan, head of supermarket at Lazada Group, said that the user penetration for those who shop online for groceries in Singapore is only at 7 per cent, compared with 23 per cent in London and 50 per cent in Shanghai.
However, by 2023, this is projected to go up to 15 per cent.
Mr Egan attributed the relatively low rate to the presence of “very good alternatives” in the form of offline supermarkets, which are “very convenient”.
In 2016, homegrown online grocer RedMart was acquired by e-marketplace Lazada Group, which is backed by China’s e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba.
Mr Egan said that in Singapore, seven in 10 people who buy their groceries online already do so on RedMart.
Mr James Chang, chief executive officer of Lazada Singapore, said that Lazada intends to attract more RedMart patrons by rolling out various promotions this year.
For a start, RedMart shoppers who opt in to the new platform on Lazada will receive up to S$25 in vouchers.
Lazada forecasts that the regional grocery market will be worth US$309 billion (S$415 billion) by 2021, with shoppers filling their baskets online more than twice a month.
With this in mind, the company is looking to expand its online grocery and supermarket business to at least one other city in South-east Asia by the end of this year.
“We aim to be a part of people’s daily shopping routines and gain a bigger share of customers,” Mr Chang said.
In a separate development, supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice is suspending the grocery concierge service run by delivery service provider Honestbee from Thursday.
The temporary halt to the partnership is “due to a review of the existing operations and collaboration process”, a spokesperson from NTUC FairPrice said.
Honestbee Singapore said that it is reviewing processes and service levels with its partners as part of its commitment to “provide the best product and service offerings”.
Asked if it has any plans for regional expansion, Ms Pauline Pang, managing director of its high-tech supermarket Habitat by Honestbee in Pasir Panjang, said that the company is already delivering groceries and food online in eight countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
