Jakarta-based online grocer expands to PH

Regional online grocery operator HappyFresh is debuting into the Philippine market in a bid to serve a growing urban workforce, especially working mothers who have little time to do their regular grocery shopping or simply want to avoid traffic jams.

HappyFresh announced on Thursday it would start doing business in the Philippines by the second quarter of this year.

HappyFresh Philippines is the Jakarta-based online grocer’s fifth office in Asia. It has offices in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan.

HappyFresh allows consumers to purchase goods from supermarkets using mobile apps and its website and have them delivered to their homes. Customers can pay using cash or credit card.

The company named Isabel Barrientos managing director of HappyFresh Philippines.

“We will be able to solve a real problem for our customers,” Barrientos said.

The steady growth in the number of cars in Metro Manila can make every trip to a supermarket a half-day journey, she said.

“We expect working mothers to be our main customers. HappyFresh will allow them to make a smart choice, having us doing their grocery shopping, allowing them to spend their spare free time with their family instead of in a supermarket. In addition to that, our business operation in the Philippines also means we will be creating job opportunities for the local talents. I am very excited to bring this opportunity to Manila,” she added.

Barrientos used to be the chief operating officer of local online marketplace theshop.ph. She also previously worked for Ensogo and the Lazada Group.

The company sees the rapidly growing workforce in the Philippines making this country one of the most attractive markets for companies looking to grow their presence in the region.  The country has a population of around 100 million, a high literacy rate and an economic growth trajectory seen at 6-7 percent in the next few years.

“We have been expanding our footprint in Asia over the last 12 months. During this period, we have significantly augmented our leadership team in Indonesia, added several key staff in Malaysia and strengthened our already strong platform in Thailand and Taiwan. The Philippines is an exciting market because the population’s wealth is expanding and consumer spending growth will accelerate through to 2030,” HappyFresh chief executive officer and co-founder Markus Bihler said.

Founded in 2014, HappyFresh is a pioneering online grocery platform in Southeast Asia. Last year, it completed a $12-million funding led by Vertex Venture (Vertex), the venture arm of Temasek Holdings and Sinar Mas Digital Ventures (SMDV), the venture arm of Sinar Mas Group of Indonesia.