PETALING JAYA, Dec 10 — Foodpanda Malaysia is now venturing into the online grocery business with its latest grocery delivery service called Pandamart.

The delivery platform announced today that Pandamart will act as an on-demand delivery service, featuring over 3,500 daily essentials such as groceries, fresh produce, household essentials, beauty products and over the counter medication.

Pandamarts act as dark stores, meaning that they only cater to online shopping. — Picture courtesy of Foodpanda

"After a successful pilot, we are excited to announce the official launch of Pandamart today,” said Foodpanda Malaysia’s Dark Stores director Ashutosh Gandhi during a virtual press conference.

"Consumer lifestyles and preferences have been shifting all across the globe because of the ‘new normal.’

"Safety, speed, convenience and effortless delivery are becoming more important than ever before which is why we aim to offer enhanced choices to our customers, any time of the day.”

Ashutosh added that the first Pandamart was opened in July this year and there are currently 25 Pandamart dark stores around Malaysia, mainly situated in Selangor, Penang and Johor.

A "dark store” is generally a large warehouse that is used to store products and items that cater exclusively to online shopping.

Ashutosh also said that Pandamart offers delivery services within 20 minutes from placing an order, no matter how many items you purchase.

"There is a limited capacity to the bags of the delivery riders, but we don’t have any limitation on the number of items when you place your order,” he said.

"If your order exceeds the rider’s bag capacity, another rider will be assigned to the same order. You don’t have to do anything.

"The system will automatically handle it even if the order requires two, three or even four riders, and no extra delivery fees will be charged.”

He said that it takes roughly two minutes to prepare orders and Pandamart also offers free delivery for the first four months (since opening) and a minimal fee between RM1 to RM2 will be charged later on.

You can even get household items and beauty products from Pandamart. — Picture courtesy of Foodpanda

There is, however, a minimum order value of RM5 when purchasing on the Pandamart platform.

Ashutosh added that some of the "best-sellers” so far have been common household groceries and items such as mineral water, bread, eggs, milk, ice cream, chocolates, frozen meat, soft drinks and juices.

He also said that Pandamart sources its products from over 100 local and international brands and reassured potential customers that quality and expiry checks are conducted on a daily basis to ensure a high quality of products available.

"We have a warehouse management system that is capable of registering expiry dates for all the products. We keep a catalogue of all these products and if something is going to expire it is removed in advance,” said Ashutosh.

"For fresh produce, we do replenishment every day as well to ensure that everything is still fresh.”

Ashutosh added that customers can also contact customer support for a refund if they are not satisfied with the product.

A view of the Georgetown Pandamart, which is one of the three stores located in Penang. — Picture courtesy of Foodpanda

He said that Foodpanda also hopes to expand Pandamart delivery services across the country, with more locations to be announced in the coming months.

"Right now we are just in three of four main locations with 19 Pandamarts located in the Klang Valley. But, we will be reaching to all the major cities and covering the entire country within the next six months. By the end of this year, we will be opening more stores in Seremban, Melaka and Ipoh.”

Pandamart is available via the Foodpanda app under the "Shops” tab. However, Pandamart will not appear under this tab if it is unavailable in your region.