MerryMart goes online

MANILA, Philippines — MerryMart Consumer Corp., the listed grocery chain operator of property tycoon Edgar “Injap” Sia II, has partnered with FoodPanda Philippines to put up a network of online groceries.

“This concept is a real game changer in the online grocery space. Imagine being able to buy exactly what you need, when you need it, and for it to arrive at your doorstep in a very short span of time. We are glad to join forces with the global delivery platform FoodPanda to power this ‘dark grocery’ store concept as they are the leaders in the online food delivery space,” Sia said.

Under the partnership, MerryMart and FoodPanda will launch a ‘dark grocery’ store concept wherein goods will be delivered in roughly 15 minutes to customers.

‘Dark groceries’ are branches that will generally be invisible and will solely cater to online deliveries within the vicinity. The first two ‘dark grocery’ stores are set to start operations in Makati City and Manila this October.

It will operate through PandaMart, FoodPanda’s instant grocery delivery service which covers convenience grocery goods, personal care essentials and other fast moving consumer goods.

“These ‘dark grocery’ stores will generally be located in select hidden locations and are exclusively intended for online deliveries. We see this initiative complementing the expansion of the brick-and-mortar MerryMart branches which will serve both delivery and walk-in customers,” Sia said.

He said the move is line with the direction of the MerryMart to  become more efficient. It continues to find ways to exponentially build up its sales volume both from its new store openings and also through innovative partnerships such as this ‘dark grocery’ store concept with the FoodPanda group.

MerryMart now has a total of 11 operational branches and targets to end the year with 25 branches.  It aims to open its 100th branch by December 2021.

The grocery chain operator, which had just successfully listed,  aims to cover all the grocery retail categories from small, medium and large grocery retail formats.

At present, it has three grocery retail formats -- MerryMart Grocery, MerryMart Market and MerryMart Store.

Moving forward, Merrymart  has set its Vision 2030 with the goal of rolling out a total of 1,200 branches nationwide with an aim of reaching P120 billion in systemwide sales revenue.

FoodPanda Philippines, which is operated by the Berlin-based Delivery Hero SE , has over 20,000 riders. It is present in 71 cities across the country.

It operates in 51 countries all over the world.