Why not pass on your pasar trips?

Pasar /puh-sar/ – a word of Malay origin for a wet market; where the sale and purchase of various perishable food items take place.

There is no denying that food unites people together. Being an integral part of our daily life, a good portion of our day is spent both preparing and consuming food. ‘A family that eats together, stays together’, they say, but how much effort actually goes to plating the feast? Unless you’re the grocer, chef, and tidy-upper, the work behind a delicious home-cooked dinner is often overlooked. Prep time of a good home cooked meal roughly averages at just a little over 30 minutes, but this is given all the ingredients are readily available – and not all of us have a pantry stocked up for a famine! Well, it’s not practical either. Between needing to cook with fresh produce and limited food storage space, it seems like a poor soul must always make the sacrifice of time and effort of pasar trips – in spite of the hassle.

When it comes to groceries, the pasar acts as a Malaysian go-to for getting fresh, perishable goods at an affordable price. Selling all from fresh fish, vegetables, fruits, and other commodities, the pasar acts as a one-stop centre for home cooks to choose their ingredients for a nice homey meal. However, with many of us nowadays running hectic schedules and tied down with family commitments, grocery shopping is just another inconvenient errand on our to-do list. 

 

“Nak makan? Let me run to the pasar real quick!” 

 

But “real quick” is an understatement. With the drive, finding parking, and actually working through the shopping list, a quick trip may cost you valuable hours that could otherwise be spent on more fruitful activities or with family. Plus, with most pasars being located outdoors or in roofed open spaces, the hot Malaysian weather does not make those trips any more enticing. 

Now, what is the solution to this? Could outsourcing our grocery trips really be a viable solution? In the past decade, we have seen various e-commerce and real-time transport services dominate the service industry, with technology trends disrupting the global business landscape. Working towards saving people time and energy, great success is seen especially in online food delivery platforms. With considerable investments and high projections, a good handful of tech start-ups in this industry have even secured high valuations of over $1 billion. Thus, can we assume similar success with grocery e-commerce?

Although the online grocery market is relatively new, it is steadily gaining a lot of traction. In the US alone, the grocery e-commerce market has grown more than double in two years, from being a modest $12 billion industry in 2016 to a staggering $26 billion in 2018 (source). In 2019, while growth in grocery sales are essentially stagnant, online grocery sales increased by 15 percent, with projections anticipating sustained high growth rates for the coming years (source).

However, there is no denying that online grocery shopping (currently) appeals to a niche market. Being still considered new technology, adoption remains at low levels. For example, in spite of its impressive growth, the market penetration of grocery e-commerce in the US is anticipated to rise to just 7 percent of the nation’s entire grocery sales by the end of 2020 (source). According to the Grocery Ecommerce 2019 Report, this is because the demographic that most commonly use online grocery platforms are more commonly only skewed toward young, affluent and urban households that are pressed for time and value convenience (source). Being more likely early adopters of new technology, they tend to also be regular e-commerce buyers across other categories.

Understanding the market potential and unique characteristics of grocery e-commerce in Malaysia, none is more determined to breach the gap between fresh produce from the pasars direct to the consumer than, you guessed it, the Pasar App. Connecting users to individual merchants of various nearing pasars since 2017, the Pasar App allows customers to purchase fresh produce without ever having to leave the comfort of their own home! By easily scanning through product listings of multiple merchants from their nearing pasars, customers can choose a convenient time and have it delivered straight to their doorstep – all whilst eliminating parking problems, fees, and the uncomfortable pasar surroundings. Delivery times also follow the pasar working hours, all to ensure the freshness of the products delivered!

With a steady operating track record since their launch, the Pasar App has also proved their potential by ranking top 10 of the SME Accelerator Program 2019, conducted by 1337 Ventures and the CIMB SHINE. Today, Pasar aims to raise RM300,000 through crowdfunding in return for 9.1 percent equity. The funds would be channelled to finance their operations, staff acquisition, marketing activities, and software maintenance and updates. 

In an era where convenience triumphs all, it won’t be long until practicality drives users of various backgrounds to shop their groceries online. And when that happens, Pasar will be more than ready to give customers the time, comfort and freshness of produce they desire. So, will you opt in on this golden opportunity? Join Pasar in securing their market position today!

 

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Liyana Aini

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