Uyen's group orders typically include 5-7 members, rotating their meal choices daily. This approach ensures a diverse menu for lunch and afternoon snacks, with little repetition, thanks to the extensive selection of restaurants and eateries available on the app.

"I can choose my favorite dishes even from a distance. Ordering lunch via the app also saves travel time or walking in the sun and rain, providing an extra break before the afternoon shift", Uyen explained, highlighting why office workers prefer ordering food through apps.

Ordering in groups helps optimize daily meal costs for office workers. Photo: Quynh Nhu

Group ordering is particularly effective for cost optimization—a significant challenge for the team as the year-end approaches, aiming to save money for upcoming long holidays and festivals.

When using the "group order" feature for 5-8 people, orders qualify for more discount codes, each offering higher value—averaging up to a 30% reduction on the total order value. By selecting "economy" delivery and using a GrabUnlimited membership package, Uyen also receives free GrabFood delivery.

"After lunch, the group often orders drinks for an afternoon snack. The other day, five of us ordered matcha from our usual shop. The initial bill was about 465,000 VND, but after applying five discount codes, the order came down to about 330,000 VND", Uyen calculated.

The "group order" feature also automatically splits the bill and calculates the cost for each participating member. Photo: NVCC

Beyond ordering lunch at the office, Uyen also uses the app for her daily commute.

Uyen chooses GrabBike economy for her daily commute, prioritizing rides during 7-9 h and 13-16 h to save additional costs. As a GrabUnlimited member, all her GrabBike trips automatically receive a 20% discount. "The 8 km distance from home to work only costs 30,000 VND after applying discounts. It's affordable, and I no longer feel exhausted commuting during peak hours or in bad weather, so I've completely stopped driving myself", Truc Uyen stated.

GrabBike economy helps office workers optimize commuting costs. Photo: Uyen Nhi

Thanh Trung (30, Hanoi) is another loyal user of food delivery apps. Due to the nature of his freelance graphic design work, Trung often eats alone. He prefers selecting meals from GrabFood's "single-serving collection" instead of cooking himself.

These meals, priced at just 39,000 VND, including delivery fees, are portioned for one person and offer diverse options from broken rice with grilled pork, shredded pork skin, and egg meatloaf, to mixed noodles with pork cracklings, mixed vermicelli with tofu and pork, and snacks like fried fish balls and mixed rice paper salad. "Compared to cooking myself, ordering food this way saves me at least 20% on costs, and it's delivered right to my door. I save about 500,000-800,000 VND per month on lunch", Trung remarked.

The "dine-in" service offers many restaurant and eatery options, along with discount vouchers of up to 50%. Photo: Quynh Nhu

For Hoai Thuong (29, Ho Chi Minh City), Grab's "dine-in" service acts as a "dictionary" for finding restaurants during the year-end season. In her public relations role, holidays and Tet are busy times for Thuong to meet clients and partners. Discovering the "dine-in" service on GrabFood, she quickly adopted it as a "digital assistant", as it compiles numerous restaurant and eatery options, along with table reservation features and discount vouchers of up to 50%.

"The list of restaurants is clearly categorized and diverse. I can choose a culinary style, such as Korean or Japanese cuisine, or filter based on my needs, whether it's dining with family, a date, or a gathering with friends", Thuong shared.

This service allows her to preview restaurant ambiance, menus, and reviews, as well as make reservations in advance, avoiding inconvenience during peak times.

"Last week, my partner and I had dinner at Matsuri, a Japanese restaurant on Nguyen Hue Street. The meal cost about one million VND, so I pre-purchased an 800,000 VND voucher. The voucher also had a 30% discount, bringing the cost down to about 560,000 VND", Thuong recounted.

The experiences of Uyen, Trung, and Thuong exemplify a digital lifestyle embraced by many young people: using services on digital platforms to diversify options, save time and effort, and optimize costs. A "Vietnamese consumer" survey published by PwC in October this year indicated that price is a primary concern, and consumers carefully consider their expenditures.

According to PwC's recently published results, 54% of survey participants reported buying ready-to-eat food at least once a week. E-commerce platforms and technology applications are transforming how Vietnamese people shop for and consume food.

From the perspective of digital enthusiasts, super apps like Grab help users meet all their needs while saving money from morning to night. These daily savings gradually foster a digital lifestyle, contributing to greater flexibility in personal finances.

Thai Anh