Not Just for Rides and Deliveries: You Can Now Pay With This App When Dining Out
If there’s one thing that's changed drastically after the pandemic, it’s how people eat. While restaurants have been seeing more people eating out again—coming from years of just staying home and cooking or having their meals delivered—it’s no secret that these businesses had to make substantial changes to keep customers coming.
That includes offering more convenient payment options. Cashless payments really took off over the last few years (and will surely continue to), with people no longer needing to go through the hassle of finding the nearest bank or ATM just to withdraw money. Figures from global data and business intelligence platform Statista revealed 92 percent of Filipinos have adopted cashless payments at the height of the pandemic in 2021. This, likewise, explains the surge of digital banks and electronic or e-wallets.
"Superapp" Grab, which offers mobility and delivery services, has hopped in on the trend, giving users the option to “Pay with Grab.”
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The new payment option, as its name suggests, allows diners to pay via the Grab app—similar to how we use e-wallets like GCash for everyday transactions.
According to Grab, its own study led it to the discovery that nine out of every 10 users of its app have integrated both online and offline practices.
“We recognize that the successful revival of our local food merchants hinge not just on attracting customers back to their favorite tables, but on sustaining the digital connectivity that became a lifeline during the pandemic.” Greg Camacho, Grab Philippines’ director for deliveries, said. “By intertwining digital efficiency with the authentic dining experience, we are setting a new standard for what it means to dine in the digital age.”
Grab has also launched the Instant Deals feature, which enables restaurants to offer customizable promos for their customers. The deals can be used real-time during dine-in experiences.
“What we hope is to use this to drive more foot traffic to stores—no longer online, but also offline,” Camacho told an interview with reporters.
Aside from the payment and deals items, Grab is exploring loyalty tools, including what it calls the “loyalty as a service” feature. This will allow customers to collect stamps or stickers from their go-to restaurants or cafés both when on-site and with their mobile phones. So far, Grab said it has recorded a 40 percent adoption rate of the feature, which is on a pilot study.
Grab's services currently cover Metro Manila and various other parts of the country. It hopes to expand to at least five more cities outside the capital by the end of the year, which will be determined depending on mobile phone and internet usage, as well as access to partner riders and merchants.
