From supermarkets to super apps, Southeast Asian tech start-ups are looking to China not Silicon Valley

It’s 11am on Sunday morning in the industrial area of Singapore’s Pasir Panjang district, and the sun is streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows at Habitat, a technology-enabled supermarket concept by online grocery start-up Honestbee.

Customers mill about the sprawling, 60,000 square feet store browsing multiple shelves of imported items and checking out the fresh produce on offer.

Some gawk as overhead conveyor belts transport bags of packed groceries, ordered by online customers, across the store in preparation for delivery, as others gather around the automated checkout area (there are no cashiers) to push their supermarket trolleys onto conveyor belts, watching as their groceries disappear behind metal doors to be packed.

Near the checkout area, customers stand in line at the live seafood counter, waiting their turn to order Boston lobsters and fresh oysters, which can be shucked on the spot and served with wedges of lemon on a bed of crushed ice.

Eateries line the perimeter of the store, offering everything from Japanese souffle pancakes and grilled meats to beer-battered fish and chips and Italian pasta.

Launched last week, Habitat is Honestbee’s concept of what future supermarkets could look like and doubles up as an innovation lab for the company to test out integrated online and offline strategies for the future of retail. The concept is somewhat similar to Hema supermarkets in China, operated by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding and emblematic of a wider trend whereby Southeast Asian companies are increasingly looking towards China for internet and technology innovations to drive their business models into the future.