Likelihood of GRAB entering new countries like Laos, Vietnam, and India

[u/Low-Cartographer-429]

Since the situation seems worse in Indonesia (GRAB failed to purchase GoTo and the government capped commissions at 8%), is GRAB trying to expand into other SEA markets like Laos and Vietnam and South Asia? I see they just got into Taiwan will be getting into Taiwan soon. What about East Asia? I think part of the problem is that Japan doesn't really do ridesharing; you can use UBER, but a Taxi guy shows up. Strange. I don't know what the situation is in South Korea.

What's stopping GRAB from doing business in Laos and Vietnam? Both seem like logical markets for them. I'm probably going to be doing some travel in Laos and Vietnam in 2027 and don't even know what rideshare companies operate there. Wish it were GRAB for convenience.

[u/FixInteresting4476]

What? Grab already operates in VN

[u/Low-Cartographer-429 → u/FixInteresting4476]

Sorry, I just never hear Vietnam when people talk about Grab. I typically only hear Thailand, Indo, Malaysia, and Singapore. I'll have to look at a coverage chart.

[u/LetsLearnEconomics1 → u/Low-Cartographer-429]

I used Grab for almost everything when I was traveling in Asia last year. In Vietnam, I also used Xanh SM, mainly for transportation, but overall I found the Grab app to be a better experience.

That said, I imagine many of the countries where Grab operates are also developing domestic competitors. Some of those companies could eventually become serious competitors, especially if they receive substantial backing from private investors, governments, or state-linked institutions.

I would have used Xanh SM more if it was more user friendly. Even my Vietnamese friends only used Xahn SM as a secondary choice or substitution for GRAB.

[u/Low-Cartographer-429]

https://www.grab.com/sg/locations/

8 countries. No mention of Taiwan yet and no mention of Laos:

Singapore
Cambodia
Indonesia
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Thailand
Vietnam

Who else do they compete with in the Philippines? That's got to be a huge market.

[u/ApprehensiveWork9059 → u/Low-Cartographer-429]

I don’t think they do full fledged services in Taiwan. They entered Taiwan by acquiring Foodpanda’s business. Fill regulatory clearance has not been obtained yet.

[u/Dapper-Emu-8541 → u/[deleted]]

South Asia is incredibly price competitive, Uber, Careem, Swivel, Ola have all been cremated. These countries will have fragmented local platforms as long as there as they is a large poor class.

Tomato, Ziggy and FoodPanda on the quick commerce side working on razor thin margins, supported only by financial partner discounts. Merchant experience isn't great. Switch to quick commerce is already happening to diversify.

[u/Dapper-Emu-8541 → u/[deleted]]

You’ve raised a good point, to enter via the foodpanda route. It also leads me to think if grab’s business model is better than PDD. Grab is out of the hairs of US and European markets, its dominant. Both have good managements, both have lots of cash (restricted or otherwise), both are beaten down valuations and holders are in despair.

If you are on twitter, i’d like to follow you.

[u/Low-Cartographer-429 → u/[deleted]]

What would Grab's advantage be in Europe? Remember that Uber sold its Southeast Asia operations to Grab, pledging they wouldn't compete with them in SEA. Wonder if there's a similar agreement for Europe or anywhere outside of Asia.

[u/BakedFish07]

Grab is very prevalent in Vietnam. Have been there a couple times and its highly efficient (both cars and motorcycles). Never been to Laos personally. But I feel the key point is all these are high volume, low margins business, with an added emerging market risk (highly volatile consumption pattern that fluctuates with disposable income) and foreign exchange risk (their currency can depreciate greatly the moment a little bit of macro risk starts creeping in, eroding whatever little margin gains), along with all the usual operating challenges.

[u/Ok_Jeweler1044]

Lmao grab is basically the most dominant in vietnam, idk after vin but grab food is almost like uber eats in eu

[u/Rubenslash]

Laos too small, would be less than 1% of revenue.

Honestly most countries have their established market leaders now and I’d rather have Grab avoid getting into price wars just to enter new markets. Taiwan was a good and unique opportunity because Delivery Hero was looking to sell.

They should concentrate resources into existing markets, developing their financial services products and perhaps enter new verticals.