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Welcome everyone to episode 38 – still keeping these up weekly and I’m loving it – hope you are too! Have gotten a bunch of signups for my new email newsletter, thanks for your interest everyone and I’ll be sure to send you special updates and news as they develop – as well as first access and free access to my new book on Hong Kong business supercharged!Ok, now for this week’s show – we have Andrew Chan from Aftership, an e-commerce service to help sellers centralize all their order tracking and notifications. I’ve watched him and Aftership grow since they debuted in 2011 Startup Weekend and have been growing like crazy. It’s a mix of the story of his business – as well as I get some insights out of him about fulfillment from China and Hong Kong – as I know that is a popular topic. So let’s go!
Topics Covered in this Episode
- Introduction of Andrew Chan and Aftership company
- I remember you guys winning the Hong Kong startup weekend and then the global startup battle, that was back in 2012 right? I know how hard you have worked, congratulations
- Can you share the story of how Aftership got started and it’s first couple years
- And you just closed on an investment, congratulations! How was that?
- Can you share some tips for listeners on raising angel or Series A investment?
- So your clients are e-commerce businesses, mostly in USA, Asia, Europe? Can you give us an idea?
- Many listeners on the show either have a hong kong company or are thinking of doing it for their ecommerce and/or sourcing business, and many always wonder about warehousing and fulfillment from Hong Kong, I have trouble giving them answers here what do you suggest?
- Shipping electronics from Hong Kong
- What to look for in warehousing and fulfillment and thoughts on using a China factory as a shipping center
- For a e-commerce company registered in Hong Kong starting from scratch, as something with rather light weight goods b2c, what do you recommend?
- Any other points or tips for listeners about running a business from Hong Kong, not Necessarily inside of Hong Kong
- Can listeners interested in you or your business how can they reach out, email, Twitter, blog, etc
People / Companies / Resources Mentioned in this Episode
- Aftership shipment tracking solution
- hongkong.startupweekend.org – Startup Weekend Hong Kong
- IDG ventures
- Kickstarter
- Groupon Goods
- Wish.com mobile commerce
- Rocket internet
- Contacting Andrew at andrew @ aftership.com
Episode Length: 16:13
Thanks so much Andrew for sharing! I think he is working on an actual ecommerce fulfillment solution from what he was hinting in the show – but it may be a bit too early to officially announce that. I’ll keep you guys posted as I get more updates on his side.
On the Global From Asia email subscription, I also am polling some topics – and it seems like people listening already have the Hong Kong business setup, and are interested in more interviews as well as 2 topics – sales tactics in China and Asia, and China business. I’ll keep that in mind as we get more people and topics on the show!
Til next time!
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3 Comments on “E-Commerce from Hong Kong & Aftership Story with Andrew Chan”
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Very nice insights, thanks for sharing!
The interesting point here is that AfterShip helps with the most problematic aspect of Ecommerce: the logistics.
What most Ecommerce platforms in HK face on a daily basis is the threat of China Ecommerce. Platforms such as TaoBao take market shares from HK platforms because of a large variety of choices and very competitive prices. While HK businesses might struggle on these two aspects, there are other things that can be done to convince customers to buy from your local website instead of a Chinese one. I’m thinking about same-day delivery for example.
More and more customers come to expect last-minute deliveries for their purchase. Imagine you could deliver your client’s basket within 2 hours in HK, wouldn’t it be attractive?
Platforms like AfterShip have clearly understood this need and try to provide solutions. EasyVan for instance offers same day delivery for its partners in HK (example with corporate training services: http://lalamove.net/landing/hk-corporate-training-easyvan-english?trk=comment). Winning the Ecommerce battle does not always require to be the cheapest one on the market. There are other variables that improve the customer experience while increasing the sales.
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