by LYDIA NATHAN/ pic credit: mygroser.com

HOMEGROWN online grocer MyGroser racked up more than 1,000% growth in deliveries since the Movement Control Order (MCO) was imposed in March.

Co-founder and CEO Stephen P Francis said the MCO allowed its service to grow over a short time and test its ability to fulfil the needs of its customers.

“We have seen the demand for grocery deliveries grow by over 1,000% during the first part of this year. Our own revenues and number of deliveries have grown 10 times in the last few months,” Francis told The Malaysian Reserve.

“The growth has been exponential over the second quarter of 2020 and we have seen an increase in sign-ups for people looking for actual solutions they can trust.”

Francis said the company adapted quickly when global supply systems were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We had to quickly adapt to the less predictable supply and resupply of products to our cloud stores to fulfil customer orders.”

He said it was quite a challenge to set up an independent online grocer amid competition from major retailers.

Francis said MyGroser’s ability to control its entire supply chain, including direct relationships with brands and a delivery network that is uniquely built for grocery and food delivery, is key to its success.

“We were already built to high safety, tracking, delivery and handling standards, so the MCO represented an enhancement to our existing way of doing things.

This is how we were able to stay open throughout the MCO and make deliveries every single day.”

MyGroser was launched in September 2018, a brainchild of Francis together with partners Michele Mahendra and Jeff Medina, who were looking at new opportunities to invest their experience.

“Having worked with retail grocery brands and hypermarkets as consultants over the years, we realised that the grocery space was ripe for disruption for all the right reasons like offering better value, greater convenience, increased freshness and keeping it all affordable too.

“The food industry had always been an interest to us, but we also questioned the freshness and prices of products at the supermarkets. As consumers, we were not getting enough value in this space and we felt that we could deliver freshness at a better value offering and do it affordably through delivery too,” Francis said.

MyGroser began as a supermarket in a warehouse, complete with freezers, a butchery, deli section, bakery and everyday essential items stacked on shelves.

The co-founders invested several million into the business and have continued to grow the business towards profitability in a measured and consistent manner.

Francis said like everyone else, the online service did face a shortage of certain products during the early stages of the MCO, but the goal was to ensure that supply of essential items will always be enough.

“We enhanced our delivery system and assets, and had the right people working round the clock, sometimes we were there for 20 hours each day as we continued expanding the teams at different levels.

“We are proud to say that we did not cancel any orders and we fulfilled every one that we accepted. We also worked with several non-governmental organisations and independent groups to make sure that the underserved segments of our community was looked after as well.”

Currently, the service is focused on refining the experience for its customers as it strives to be better each day.

“We are accelerating our expansion plans to better meet the demand for convenient, fresh and affordable produce, everyday essentials and groceries.

“Our range of products is growing week-on-week with up to 100 new items added on a weekly basis, while currently, we list an average of 6,000 active items at any given time.

“We’ve also increased our range of products including ready-to-cook meal kits that are available on the website, curated Western and Asian menus, and recently introduced our range of marinated meats and hand-made hamburger patties for meals made simple.”

Additionally, MyGroser is also collaborating with e-commerce platform Shopee to sell its items, while leveraging Shopee’s huge user base.