In our food delivery platforms in SEA report released last week, we broke down the market size and share of all the six major countries in the region. 

Quite a number of you asked us how we achieved that. Well , we actually use on- ground sources that include interviews, surveys, app monitoring services. Data is calibrated and checked again with key interviewees.

And we thought there are some interesting observations worth sharing about each market:

1. Singapore 

Singapore’s GMV is the 3rd largest in SEA. 

To put things into perspective, Singapore’s population is 2% of Indonesia, but generates 65% as much GMV. There are a few reasons to this. 

Singapore is the only country that was under nationwide lockdown for 8 weeks, and did not have access to restaurants and had very limited mobility. 

Food delivery was one of the main ways to get food to people during this period.  And with the high cost of living in general, the GMV is no doubt one of the highest in SEA. 

2. Vietnam 

Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi are the main two cities where competition for the food delivery platforms are strongest. 

Now, owned by SEA group, has the largest market share in Vietnam. 

Baemin, from South Korea, entered Vietnam in mid 2019 – and has been aggressively building market shares through discounts and promotions. 

However, as you can see, the penetration in Vietnam is still quite low. This means that the market share will not remain constant.

3. Indonesia 

Despite the large GMV of $3.7bil, the actual basket order is much lower than that of Singapore or Malaysia. 

In 2016, when Foodpanda exited Indonesia, Go-food was owning 90% of the market share, and there was no way for incumbents to fight them. Interesting to see that in 2020, Grab has taken a lead now.

4. Thailand 

Thailand which is the second biggest market is also very competitive for food delivery platform players. Even banks are joining the foray. 

The Lineman- Wongnai merger in 2020 reminds people of the Meituan-Denping merger in China a few years ago. 

We don’t see meaningful presence of Robinhood or any other bank backed delivery platforms yet. 

Robinhood is an in-house venture of Siam Commercial Bank, one of the largest bank in Thailand

5. Malaysia 

Malaysia market size is slightly half of that of Singapore, despite having a larger population (7 mil in Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area vs 5.8mil in Singapore). 

One key difference between cities in Malaysia and Singpaore is topography – Singapore is much denser. 

6. Phillppines 

Market share would be bigger if we included Jollybee delivery, but here are we only looking for platforms. 

Jollybee – who doesn’t like them? 

If you want to get your hands on the report, write to us at [email protected], and check our our Zoom event this Friday here

Thanks for reading The Low Down (TLD), the blog by the team at Momentum Works. Got a different perspective or have a burning opinion to share? Let us know at [email protected].

 

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Prior to Momentum Works, Yorlin was in the financial sector in SIngapore and Hong Kong for 10 years - working with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, AXA and HSBC. She feels that corporate knowledge are undervalued in the start-up ecosystem and want to change this. At Momentum Works, she manages operations, overseeing joint venture operations with partners from all over the world. She always makes time to speak to people as you never know what’s the next game changer in the fickle world of fintech, e-commerce or mobile internet. In her free time, you can find her being the slave to her 5 cats.