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This month Southeast Asian ride-hailing app Grab announced its partnership with Ping An Good Doctor – China’s leading online healthcare firm. Set to launch in Q1 2019, the partnership will see Grab users being able to book physicians and buy medicines through Grab’s third party services function GrabPlatform, using GrabPay to complete transactions. Grab will own 30% of the venture, with Ping An owning the rest, and both will invest an initial USD 20 million into it.

Three insights for you:

• The first rule of trends: customer expectations don’t stay within industry boundaries! This should be a powerful reminder that the desire for one touch convenience and on-demand services isn’t limited to taxis.

• Mobile-powered brand ecosystems are consumers’ go-to lifestyle management platforms. Think WeChat to Amazon to Facebook to Uber. Grab started with taxis, but has quickly expanded into payments: just last month we featured their new mini convenience store service; now they’re partnering with health industry players. Could these platforms offer you a channel to reach new customers?

• Who would be your perfect partner? Even if you’re not in the digital or mobile industries, use this to provoke the question: which other industries or players could you partner with? More importantly: who would your customers welcome you partnering with?! 

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