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KARACHI: Food delivery app foodpanda is stepping beyond its traditional market and moving towards becoming an everyday app. According to CEO Muntaqa Peracha, this means “moving from a service people use once a week for a treat to a daily utility they rely on for everything”.
The shift will see foodpanda focus on quick- or q-commerce through pandamart and shops. “Whether it’s health and beauty, medicine, ingredients for your meals, or electronics, the goal is to deliver any household essential conveniently and efficiently”, says Peracha in his interview to The News.
The shift comes while much of the country still depends on small neighbourhood/kiryana stores for their daily needs. When asked if foodpanda has a plan to attract those who currently depend on such stores to its online platform, Peracha said that “The kiryana store is a staple of our culture, and the goal isn’t to replace it, but to offer a more efficient, digital alternative for the modern, busy consumer. We attract these customers by solving the common weaknesses of traditional shopping, such as price transparency, quality assurance and the effort of physically going to the store”, adding that shops under foodpanda also do include kiryana stores.
While younger customers (Gen Z) have traditionally been foodpanda’s early adopters, the expansion into groceries, pharmacy items and home essentials, has increasingly seen greater adoption by other demographics.
According to Peracha, this includes “Gen X, millennials etc such as parents and older professionals, using the app for their delivery needs. We are always working to make the app more intuitive and accessible for everyone, regardless of age. The idea is that if you can use a smartphone for something basic such as sending a message, you should also be able to use it to order food or groceries using the app. We want to be a household name for the entire family, not just the younger generation.”
EXPANDING BEYOND THE BIG CITIES
Alongside the ‘everyday app’ shift, Peracha says expansion is also an important aspect of the mission to digitise Pakistan, with foodpanda already seeing significant growth in cities like Multan, Faisalabad and Sialkot, among many others. “We currently operate in over 35+ cities and firmly believe there is massive potential in tier 2 and tier 3 cities because these areas are often underserved by modern retail” says Peracha.
However, he also emphasised that the challenges in these cities are “different than in Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad. Road infrastructure, connectivity and hence delivery times can be less predictable and there is often a steeper learning curve for both vendors and customers regarding technology adoption. We manage this by tailoring our logistics and marketing to local needs, using data to map these cities as accurately as possible and working closely with local restaurant partners to help them through the digital transition”.
