To be fair to HappyFresh, it is not the only one to have run into bumps with an on-demand shopping service in Southeast Asia.
Instacart, the on-demand shopping start-up, has garnered cash from one of its partners, Whole Foods, that values it around $2 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
The company was founded in November 2011 to bring online and on-demand shopping to Singapore.
Though it may have lost the popular vote, the on-demand shopping company has been working hard to make it easy for anyone to "ship their stuff" anywhere.
However, these services today are mainly satisfying on-demand shopping needs in denser urban markets, rather than something that could scale to serve the larger e-commerce marketplace.
Walmart To Go, the retailer's on-demand shopping service offering home delivery of general merchandise, including in some cases, groceries, is expanding its test in the Denver market today to also include a local pick-up option.
Go-Jek said today it will move into Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines initially offering ride-hailing but with plans to additional services, including on-demand shopping and services, over time.
Bihler, whose resume includes a stint with The Boston Consulting Group, further explained that HappyFresh serves two distinct business: retailers, with which it partners to help them reach out online and via its mobile apps, and consumers, who appreciate the convenience of on-demand shopping.
Ride-sharing service Uber has also been fooling around with on-demand shopping, Postmates will buy stuff for you and bring it your way, and Instacart will handle your groceries.
It's fair to say that HappyFresh, one of a number of startups working to make the business of on-demand grocery shopping viable in Southeast Asia, didn't have a great 2016.
Finally, we do not have any information on seniors' experiences with delivery services such as shopping and carry on demand [32], despite the fact that there is a significant proportion of seniors who do not leave their homes during the day.
