The new way to grocery shop

• For 500-backed e-grocery platform HappyFresh, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic coupled with lockdown measures imposed by governments has led to a substantial increase in orders as well as new and active subscribers.
• In an interview with The Edge Malaysia, the company’s managing director Hu Hun Hui said the trend is not only surfacing in Malaysia, but also in other countries where HappyFresh operates such as Thailand and Indonesia.
• “Online grocery shopping has evolved into a go-to service, particularly during the MCO as people saw it as a safer option than going to physical stores. Initially, we were taken aback by the sheer number of orders, but we managed to cope as time went on,” he said.

• As traffic continued to pour into its app, the HappyFresh team made sure user experience was at its best by promptly addressing tech concerns.
• “We have also improved our landing pages, making sure that our desktop and mobile websites and app are easy on the eyes and provide smooth transitions between pages,” he added.
• It has also partnered with e-payment providers such as Boost to offer consumers cashback rewards with every payment.
• In June, Guillem Segarra, CEO of the online grocery platform ran a 21km marathon on his own to raise funds for those impacted by the Covid-19 spread.

The digital wave

• Chin Xin-Ci, head of marketing at 500-backed StoreHub said that business owners required a lot of convincing to sign up for their cloud-based point-of-sale system. But recent developments have certainly changed things.
• “We have been running the platform for seven years now. The global Covid-19 pandemic has become a turning point for many businesses to go on a digital transformation exercise — if a business owner did not think that going digital was important before, they would think that it is absolutely necessary today,” Xin-Ci said.
• StoreHub offers a suite of products to help entrepreneurs manage their businesses from one platform. There’s a QR loyalty cashback programme, a QR table ordering system for restaurants and cafés, and an e-commerce platform.

• One of the initiatives StoreHub has taken to ease the digital transition is Beep Delivery, a feature within StoreHub’s ecosystem allowing Malaysians to order food from their favourite cafes and restaurants.
• “The business environment is now way more challenging than before, not to mention the increased competition with the businesses within a larger radius. I think it is safe to say that retailers and F&B owners have begun to see the necessity of going online and are now more open to newer technologies,” Xin-Ci added.
• StoreHub currently serves more than 15,000 restaurants and retail entrepreneurs within the region. Most recently, it partnered with UOB Malaysia to offer a subsidized subscription package.

Education for all

• Lockdown measures have caused the rise of e-learning. But not every student is equipped for it.
• To address this need in Indonesia, Karang Taruna Petamburan, a youth organization in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, is collaborating with non-governmental organization Indonesia Resilience (IRES) and 500-backed crowdfunding platform Kitabisa to construct makeshift learning centers at various locations in the city.

• Running on weekdays from 6.30am to 2pm, these learning centers will be equipped with necessary digital tools like computers and internet access for students to enjoy a seamless learning experience. According to The Jakarta Post, local elementary, junior high, and high school students will benefit from this initiative.
• “We call them ‘Rumah Kembali Belajar’ [‘Learn Again Home’]. The initiative is the result of our concerns regarding the learning situation amid the pandemic, especially among students whose parents are informal workers,” said Kitabisa program manager Satria.
• Volunteers will be stationed on-site to ensure students adhere to social distancing protocols.
• In a similar vein, several internet cafes in Yogyakarta are providing free internet access to local students during this online learning period. This is also a Kitabisa initiative.
• Since the coronavirus crisis broke out earlier this year, Kitabisa has been utilized as the go-to place for relief efforts in the archipelago.
• Notably, Indonesian celebrity Cathy Sharon and her friends raised almost four billion rupiah from 19,299 donations in a fundraising campaign for medical frontliners.

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500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. In Southeast Asia, 500 Startups invests through the pioneering 500 Southeast Asia family of funds. The 500 Southeast Asia funds have backed over 240 companies across multiple sectors from internet to consumer to deep technology. It continues to connect founders with capital, expertise and powerful regional and global networks to help them succeed.

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