HappyFresh Presents Product Innovation; Respond to the "Quick Commerce" Trend

Services online groceries seems to be gaining wider acceptance among users. This is well captured by HappyFresh as one of the platforms that provide related services. Recently, they launched a new innovation called "HappyFresh Supermarket", to expand access to daily necessities products by increasing their virtual store presence.

This step is also used as one of the strategies HappyFresh to strengthen its collaboration with national and regional supermarket chains which have so far helped provide a wide range of products. Currently HappyFresh Supermarket has been launched in major cities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. It provides more than 15.000 SKUs consisting of fresh, dried and frozen products stored in three strictly monitored temperature zones.

“In just a few months after launch, we saw tremendous customer interest, through 300% monthly user growth. To meet this demand, we are setting up more facilities to increase our coverage area and provide much greater accessibility. Daily necessities are in our DNA,” said HappyFresh Co-founder & CEO Guillem Segarra.

To DailySocial.id, he also said that currently his platform has served total orders on a scale of millions per year. They have also partnered with almost many major supermarkets in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. To date, the company also has more than 50 supermarket chain partners and hundreds of specialty stores.

“We have launched 15 HappyFresh Supermarket facilities in three countries. In Indonesia, we have covered most of the Greater Jakarta area, and some dark store another (virtual store) will be ready soon,” he added.

Feedback on trends quick commerce

As is known, the focus of the service quick commerce which has recently sprung up also on fulfillment Grocery. The difference is that they promise instant delivery in 10-15 minutes -- two local players who have recently been in the spotlight are Bananas and Astro. While in other countries it's actually a model quick commerce has also become popular, such as Gorillas in Europe and Zepto in India.

In response to this, HappyFresh Indonesia Managing Director Filippo Candrini said, "Based on our experience in observing consumer behavior online groceries, we know that most consumers plan their purchases by selecting a variety of products from various categories and storing them in the shopping cart."

This is also the main reason they built HappyFresh Supermarket as a online groceries. By utilizing available technology and facilities, HappyFresh can accommodate more SKUs in virtual stores. This number tends to be greater than capacity dark storequick commerce – with delivery time in just 30 minutes or at certain hours according to user preferences (for services full-weekly grocery basket).

"In this way, we prevent the risk of spoiling groceries or jeopardizing the safety of our delivery driver partners," added Filippo.

From this hypothesis, HappyFresh still believes that the current model is the most relevant to market needs. And in the end the focus on product quality will be the main key to service survival online groceries. In other words, HappyFresh won't take part in the frenzy quick commerce before.

Unshare with Grab

Other news that was conveyed in the interview session was service GrabFresh which has been discontinued since early 2021. This was conveyed by HappyFresh Co-Founder & CTO Fajar Budiprasetyo, according to him the service it is no longer relevant to continue -- with the meaning that currently it is determined to expand its services globally standalone. Even for product innovation, it is focused on increasing HappyFresh's service capabilities, both at home and abroad mobile devices and websites.

Apart from this news, HappyFresh also believes that the online groceries Indonesia is still in its growth stage, there is still much to be explored. On their platform, they saw a lot of users who grew into wholesale customers online repeatedly, with an increasing frequency of monthly purchases and total expenses. This is a sign that they are buying more groceries online online.

“At HappyFresh we are also committed to sustainability, which is at the heart of our commitment – ​​not only for the future, but also for the present. We are constantly looking for ways to reduce our ecological footprint by reducing plastic packaging. One of the latest breakthroughs in HappyFresh Supermarket is the collaboration with food banks FoodCycle to redistribute excess unsold food to underprivileged and needy communities,” added Filippo.

Fundraising plan

Although he did not provide a specific response, Filippo said that further fundraising would also be on the agenda in the future. Especially looking at the business climate online groceries which is growing rapidly in the regional market.

"Industry online groceries in Southeast Asia is undoubtedly receiving a lot of attention thanks to the opportunities that are emerging today. HappyFresh is open to discussion with investors who can understand our passion for reshaping the wholesale industry, adding strategic value and helping us accelerate our next milestone.”

In the future, it is not impossible that HappyFresh will be present in other new countries in Southeast Asia. But stressed, for now they still want to improve the experience for their existing user base.

“The daily necessities industry is undergoing a significant transformation driven by changes in consumer shopping habits. Southeast Asia is on the cusp of that change. It's a $300 billion industry, so our main focus as a company is to define the fundamental building blocks for how the next 100 million people will shop for daily necessities," added Segarra.