foodpanda’s “dark” stores point to a bright future for grocery and quick commerce

how pandamart is leading the grocery delivery space and empowering businesses – both big and small – to adopt to new normal of grocery shopping

The growth of e-commerce and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant uptick in the demand for online grocery delivery services. And with it comes the emergence of a new player that is changing the landscape of grocery shopping and retail commerce as we know it: dark stores.

For some who are not yet familiar, “dark” stores are generally warehouses used to store products and items that will cater specifically to online grocery shopping. And leading this space in the Asia Pacific and the Philippines in particular, is pandamart, powered by online quick-commerce platform foodpanda.

According to foodpanda’s Director of New Verticals Karan Bhaskar, they are the pioneers of the dark store business model having been the first to introduce the concept in the Philippines. “When we first brought pandamart to the Philippines in 2020, we changed the rules of e-grocery shopping in the country. Two years later, we continue to be a leader in the industry as the biggest online grocery shopping platform with more than 40 warehouses all over the country.”

A pioneer and leader in the e-grocery space

“What separates us and makes us unique is not just that we are the first and the biggest – we also have control over the entire ecosystem. We have our own warehouses where we curate, store and pick inventory. In addition, the grocery platform is ours and we are also the ones who do the delivery.”

“We are committed to bringing much loved grocery products closer to our Filipino consumers and solidify our position as the biggest grocery delivery service in the country. That’s why aside from major cities in the Metro, we have also expanded the areas where our warehouses are located to include, Baguio in Luzon as well as Cebu and Davao in VisMin.”

Karan also shared that having access throughout the end-to-end ecosystem has allowed them to deliver quickly and efficiently. “In pandamart, what the customers see on the app is the actual inventory because we have a real-time overview of the stock-keeping units (SKU’s)  in our warehouses.”