The GrabFood Small Business Programme, it said, would comprise three key areas – an online solution, a marketing campaign to drive demand and visibility on GrabFood, and learning and development opportunities for small businesses.

In a statement, the company said small GrabFood businesses could have their own branded website with a unique URL as an additional sales channel via the Grab Online Shop, scheduled for launch in June. The online shop’s service fee of 10% will be waived for the first six months.

Further, Grab will run week-long promotions every month to spotlight small businesses on GrabFood.

“In view of MCO 3.0 where dine-in is restricted, Grab will kick off the ‘GrabFood Small Business Week’ with a free delivery campaign from May 25 to June 7, 2021, to help increase their visibility and orders,” it said.

The company said the programme aimed to drive more demand for small businesses as well as to increase discoverability by increasing traffic and sales to small businesses.

To equip businesses with knowledge and insights, Grab will organise a series of webinars on topics such as how to maximise online presence and how to turn data into insights to drive more traffic to digital stores.

“These efforts are timely and in conjunction with Grab’s #TechUntukSemua programme to empower small businesses to access opportunities from the digital economy,” it said.

Meanwhile, Grab Malaysia managing director Sean Goh said the pandemic had disrupted small businesses and given the company insights into their needs as they coped with the current challenging times.

“Additionally, studies have also shown that consumers are likely to continue using digital services going forward even in a post-pandemic world.

“Considering this, we believe our technology and capabilities can provide small businesses with longer-term solutions to help them address consumers’ evolving needs,” he said.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR LIVE UPDATE OF THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA