Bader Al-Ghanim

talabat Kuwait has grown in just a few short years, supported by the growth in digitalization across the country as well as its focus on improving the customer experience above everything else.

What major milestones have you achieved over the past few years?

One of our biggest achievements was our ability to continually provide everyone using the talabat app with a reliable and convenient experience throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns. Our ability to continue providing customers with a safe and reliable service by leveraging our technology allowed people to withstand the challenges during that period. Additionally, being able to order your grocers online was significantly important for customers. In Kuwait, within days we were offering a free-of-charge service to the Union of Cooperative Societies. As a business we made sure to support this from a financial perspective, but it also meant that we were there to support our local community.

What is your perspective of the progressive digitalization across the Kuwaiti market?

I am proud of what the government has been able to do in terms of digital transformation. COVID-19 certainly accelerated this shift, pushing the organizations to change. Meanwhile, our government was quick to adopt these changes and now many processes at ministries are much easier and more facilitated than ever before. When it comes to the private sector, and the market at large, e-commerce is the most prominent format in digital terms. Many companies within the food delivery and e-commerce sector were already there, even before the pandemic struck, but have gained immensely from withering competition. We used to have foreign and local competitors and restaurants with their own delivery. Hence, there was a great advantage to being online based when the pandemic hit. As with Dabdoob or JustClean, there are still many niches to explore in terms of digital solutions and services in the market. We will surely see the rise of many more unique products over the years to come. There are many opportunities for entrepreneurs in Kuwait.

What is the scope of talabat’s commitment to charitable causes such as the company’s involvement with Delivery Hero?

Arab culture is highly charitable. When you add to that a business like ours, which plays a part in the daily life of many people in the region, we feel we have an obligation to be a part of the community that gives back. Our corporate responsibility initiatives mostly take the form of charitable events. It is amazing to hear that Pakistan is being supported from a Delivery Hero standpoint, as is Latin America. We pursue numerous initiatives like free meals, collaborations with charitable apps like Give, and organize initiatives on a local level. Early in 2021, we decided that across all our markets for number of hours we would give back from the business generated during that time. This was a massive event, and we saw people order multiple times to make sure we paid as much as possible to the cause.

What are the major near-term objectives and developments for talabat Kuwait?

We plan to continue looking inward and improving our processes and service. We want to further improve customer experience and logistics to ensure we consistently offer a best-in-class experience for everyone using the talabat app including customers, riders, and vendors. For some vendors we are a large part of their business. For vendors keen to adopt a delivery model we may end up representing all their business. Therefore, it is important that we consider them and make efforts to improve their experience with us. And for the customer, the number-one thing we are working on is experience, although we are also looking to expand our offerings. We have created talabat Pro, a service that allows customers to get free delivery on all their orders. We are also starting to grow our ecosystem and partner with other major brands to offer rewards set to start in 2023. We are advancing from a traditional order, pickup, and delivery model to creating an ecosystem for customers and vendors to enjoy.