Indonesian O2O platform Kudo rebrands to GrabKios, aims to empower warungs

Indonesian?O2O eCommerce platform Kudo has transformed to GrabKios, signalling?a tighter integration with Grab which acquired it in 2017, and a deepened?commitment to empowering warungs?(traditional retailers) to better compete in the new digital era. Marketing Interactive has reached out to GrabKios for additional information on its rebranding.

GrabKios combines Kudo?s network of over 2.6 million partners in more than 500 cities and regencies in Indonesia, and Grab?s ecosystem of services and partnerships. The company also aims to boost efforts to digitise?warungs and help improve their competitiveness by expanding the range of services?warungs can offer, and help them grow new revenue streams.

In addition to?existing services such as airtime, bill payments, travel tickets, remittance, and registration of Grab driver partners, GrabKios is?introducing new business opportunities such as package delivery; gold savings feature; and micro insurance. It is also offering access to capital and financial services to help?warungs scale their business. This comes after Grab recently inked a memorandum of understanding with Bank Mandiri to offer loans through products by GrabKios partners and Grab driver partners.

Also, GrabKios wants to reduce?warungs' cost of business by offering them access to?a wider and more reliable range of wholesale inventory which they can order through the application . The goods are delivered to warungs with free delivery and cash on delivery options, which suit the needs of smaller warungs.

In an additional effort to support warungs, it?partnered with the?Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises, as well as?Grab?s business partners?such as BULOG and Bank Mandiri, to establish 7 November as?Hari Warung Nasional. This is in a bid to celebrate?warungs' contribution to Indonesia's?economy and drive mass empowerment for warungs through technology and partnerships. There are over 4.5 million?warungs in Indonesia today, even in the most rural areas, Grab said in a press statement.

Agung Nugroho, head of GrabKios, said warungs?are the lifeblood of Indonesia?s economy and play an important role in the fabric of Indonesian society. As Indonesia moves towards a digital economy, its mission at GrabKios is to ensure that no warungs are left behind.

"Our goal is to empower one million more GrabKios partners in Indonesia by 2021 through technology and help them to thrive and be able to continue serving the communities around them. Bringing Kudo closer into Grab?s overall ecosystem allows us to accelerate innovation for warungs and leverage our joint partnership network to offer them greater benefits and services," Nugroho added.

Neneng Goenadi, MD of Grab Indonesia, said by supporting warungs, it can?build a future for Indonesia where everyone can benefit from the digital economy. Goenadi said many Indonesians are still not connected to the Internet. But warungs can be found everywhere, in every village and on every street corner.

"With GrabKios, we?re not only aiming to empower warungs, we want to help turn them into access points through which more Indonesians can gain access for the first time to digital products, financial services, insurance, savings and more. We believe we have a real opportunity to bring development to the most rural areas of Indonesia. This is the Grab for Good vision that we serve," Goenadi added.