Grab, one of the world’s 18 “decacorns,” began its journey in Southeast Asia as a ride-hailing service and has since expanded into food delivery and financial services. In Vietnam, over the past 11 years, the verb “to Grab” has become part of everyday language, reflecting how deeply Grab has integrated into daily life. Today, it functions not just as a convenient app but as a form of social infrastructure. What factors have contributed to this growth into an indispensable “super app”?
At FOURDIGIT, we have undertaken numerous projects domestically and internationally, focusing on service design rooted in user-centered experience design. We see many parallels between Grab’s approach and our philosophy: understanding real-world problems from the perspective of everyday users and designing solutions that address them effectively.
In this article, we invited Nguyen Thanh Anh, Marketing Director at Grab Vietnam, to discuss with our CEO, Ryo Taguchi, the company’s core strength: a hyper-local UX strategy underpinned by meticulous service design. Through examples such as the “Meeting Bench” on Da Nang Beach, we explore the essence of Grab’s approach.
Nguyen Thanh Anh
Ryo Taguchi
Supporting Everyday Life: How “to Grab” Became a Common Verb
Taguchi:
Over the past 11 years, Grab has rapidly grown into a service that is essential to life in Southeast Asia. As a user myself, I can say it has become indispensable. Could you share the factors that allowed Grab to establish its position as what can be called “social infrastructure”?
Anh:
Thank you for the kind words. In Vietnam, Grab is widely used as a service integral to daily life. While it began as a ride-hailing app, it now reaches both urban and rural areas so thoroughly that people actually use the verb “to Grab.”
Southeast Asia, and Vietnam in particular, has many self-employed individuals and small businesses, including drivers and restaurant owners, forming a significant economic ecosystem. Grab’s mission is to empower these participants economically and create opportunities for business growth. We call this “Economic Empowerment,” aiming to improve future income and access to financial services.
Taguchi:
So Grab does more than provide a service; it actively supports the growth of a broader economic ecosystem. How are the business elements structured to realize this philosophy?
Anh:
There are three key elements we focus on.
First, we offer safe and convenient digital services — our ride-hailing platform helps ease traffic challenges in heavily congested cities.
Second, we support people’s livelihoods by creating income opportunities for many drivers and partner merchants.
And third, we provide digital financial services, giving people who previously had limited access to financial tools a way to obtain insurance and improve their financial literacy.
When these three elements come together, they form a synergistic super-app ecosystem that delivers real benefits and opportunities to a wide range of people.”
From User Insight to Realization: The “Meeting Bench” in Da Nang
Taguchi:
Starting from ride-sharing in Malaysia, Grab has quickly expanded into finance and food delivery. I was particularly impressed by the project where you installed benches on Da Nang Beach—a great example of UX design in action. How did this come about?
Anh:
Our work begins by identifying what creates difficulties for users within the Grab ecosystem. We analyze both quantitative and qualitative data to uncover pain points.
In Da Nang, we faced the challenge that while beaches were crowded, pickup locations were unclear, leading to many cancellations. Data analysis revealed that app pins were ambiguous, making it difficult for drivers and users to meet. From the concept of a “digital pinpoint,” we developed a physical solution.
Taguchi:
I love how a digital problem was solved with a tangible, user-centered solution. How did you implement it?
Anh:
We first conducted a test with 250 benches as reference points, analyzing data to see if the situation improved. Each bench featured a QR code so users could access nearby tourist information during wait times. This also engaged local restaurants and tourism operators, fostering collaboration with the city’s tourism office and enhancing the overall experience for the region.
Organizational Culture and Trust with Partners
Taguchi:
The Da Nang example illustrates how service design can be executed through careful processes. In large companies, even excellent ideas often fail due to organizational silos across IT, business, and marketing. How does Grab overcome this?
Anh:
While silos exist in any organization, Grab has a “test first” culture. For the Da Nang project, we first trialed 250 benches, observed the data closely, and only then moved to full deployment.
Additionally, we form teams from the start that include IT, product, business, and marketing members. By empowering teams on the ground, we ensure rapid decision-making once they gain user insights.
Taguchi:
It seems involving drivers—the key touchpoints—is also crucial. How do you collaborate with them?
Anh:
There are two steps. First, we have representatives of the target segment experience the solution. In this case, drivers participate in testing and provide feedback. Second, for broader deployment, we provide learning programs, including digital courses, for large-scale training.
Taguchi:
Are incentives offered during this process? For example, extra rewards for learning new things?
Anh:
Yes, incentives are important. Drivers receive benefits such as higher ratings from improved customer satisfaction and opportunities for tips. Beyond that, we prioritize trust based on fairness and transparency. From the beginning, we have fostered community with our partners through family programs, women driver events, and initiatives like “Wishes Behind the Wheel,” supporting drivers facing challenges.
We also created emergency support teams among drivers and introduced a marketplace for driver-to-driver transactions, both enhancing satisfaction.
These cumulative efforts ensure drivers and merchants continue choosing Grab because they trust us.
Looking Ahead: The Essence of Service Design
Taguchi:
What are Grab’s future plans?
Anh:
Our mission is to continue innovating as a service essential to life. We must adapt to local rhythms, reaching those still underserved and areas needing improvement. We aim to understand user needs and act on them.
We will especially invest in AI, enabling all employees to leverage it. Our goal is to anticipate user needs before they arise and provide services proactively.
Taguchi:
Technology is important, but so is local adaptation. We operate in many countries, and understanding culture and user lifestyles is crucial to delivering effective services. From your perspective, how should Japanese companies approach service design?
Anh:
The key is thoroughly understanding local users. Only by deeply understanding users can localization and services function effectively. When we first entered Vietnam, we focused on understanding the market and adopted a culture of sharing ideas fearlessly and quickly implementing good ones.
Taguchi:
How does Grab recruit and develop people who can grasp the essence of service design?
Anh:
Not every employee is trained in service design, but we emphasize adaptability to culture and environment, as well as skills. We evaluate employees based on the “4H”: Heart, Hunger, Honor, and Humility.
Taguchi:
Grab’s approach—optimizing services to fit users’ lives rather than just improving usability—is highly instructive for our business as well. Thank you for your time today.
After the Conversation: Taguchi’s Perspective
Mobile apps are a key customer channel, involving diverse teams. To become a service chosen by users, it must naturally integrate into everyday life and be loved over the long term. Our projects constantly ask: “How can we design for the user?”
From Japan, Southeast Asia is often seen as a single region, but each country differs in culture, work values, and religion. Expanding from Malaysia and Singapore across Southeast Asia while establishing a presence in each market is no small feat.
The Da Nang example demonstrates that Grab’s service development is highly design-driven, rooted in a serious understanding of people, not just the market, and implemented with organizational commitment. Overseas expansion has shifted from selling existing products or services to spreading experiences through those products and services.
Cross-functional team formation, accelerating problem-solving, and community-based approaches close to local culture and markets provide lessons for any company.
