e-commerce – Startup Radar http://startupradar.asia media Fri, 30 Nov 2018 04:43:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8 http://startupradar.asia/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/cropped-SR_logo_favicon-32x32.png e-commerce – Startup Radar http://startupradar.asia 32 32 Korean Startups Can Learn from Thailand’s Priceza.com http://startupradar.asia/korean-startups-can-learn-from-thailands-priceza-com/ http://startupradar.asia/korean-startups-can-learn-from-thailands-priceza-com/#respond Tue, 02 Oct 2018 01:35:28 +0000 http://startupradar.asia/?p=16785 Entering the Southeast Asian Market Thailand’s Priceza.com has become one of Southeast Asia’s most successful e-commerce search engines, all during the Alibaba and Amazon e-commerce era of global monopolization.  Priceza’s rise is instructive for the Korean startup ecosystem, where Korean startups have struggled to enter foreign markets; even more noteworthy, Priceza.com is in six Southeast…

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Entering the Southeast Asian Market

Thailand’s Priceza.com has become one of Southeast Asia’s most successful e-commerce search engines, all during the Alibaba and Amazon e-commerce era of global monopolization.  Priceza’s rise is instructive for the Korean startup ecosystem, where Korean startups have struggled to enter foreign markets; even more noteworthy, Priceza.com is in six Southeast Asian countries and has 30% of Indonesia’s market share-quite a feat given Indonesia’s track record for foreign startup failures.

Interview with Thanawat Malabuppha

I sat down a couple of weeks ago and asked Priceza.com’s CEO Thanawat Malabuppha about his “secret sauce” and the Thai startup ecosystem.

Describe Priceza.com’s organization, rise and its present strategies.

“We are three Founders, who were university friends who studied together: CEO Thanawat Malabuppha, CTO Wirod Supadul, and CPO Vachara Nivataphand.

We began by focusing on revenue generation and growing the company; as a result, we broke even in one year and didn’t have any funding until 2013.  We received our Series A funding in 2013 from CyberAgent Ventures out of Tokyo, Japan and Series B from Germany’s BurdaPrincipal Investments in 2016.

Initially, in 2010 we were a search engine focused on price comparison, but Priceza has crystallized into a platform that helps customers make the best shopping decisions by answering shopping-related questions.  In 2013 we entered Indonesia and 2015 the remaining Southeast Asian countries we are in presently: Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam.  Thailand and Indonesia are our best markets, and of the two Thailand is better because Thai’s have more buying power and better banking penetration and are more adaptable to adopt new innovations even though Indonesia has a lot more people.”

You are not presently in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar; especially regarding Myanmar which has a young and vibrant population, why haven’t you expanded there yet?

“Timing in Myanmar is not ready yet, Burmese are looking for main information and not spending money, yet.  It is still too early for e-commerce.”

Does ASEAN mitigate problems concerning expansion In Southeast Asia?

“When expanding, people are more open if the service is proven.  Other Southeast Asian nations are more open to each other, thus there is more regional integration which has facilitated expansion in the five other nations. But not free trade, there are duties still being applied.  When Thais order a product from a fellow ASEAN country they still pay a duty.”

How have you managed diversity being in six Southeast Asian countries?

“Simply, requiring our staff to have proficient written/spoken English skills.  Southeast Asia is perhaps the most diverse area in the world with every country having its own distinct language and culture; as such, English is the communication bridge to all six countries we are in.  I also believe Southeast Asians share many cultural traits, for example, communitarianism, strong family values etc.  These common traits help to create bonding among all ASEAN nations and promote solid business partnerships.”

Any plans to do an IPO any time soon?

“No plans for an IPO soon.”

What are your opinions on the Thai startup ecosystem?

Seed funding and Series A are adequate but later stages are quite challenging.  Thailand still has a lack of native talent in the ecosystem, so a corollary would be to hire foreign talent.  Lots of bureaucratic paperwork is required to hire a foreigner; in addition, 1 million baht is needed for investing in the company.”

“There is a great demand for startups because Thailand has so many problems to solve.  Thailand is amidst a transitioning period from a middle-income-country to a newly-industrialized-country, so demand and opportunities are increasing for startups.”

Are there opportunities in Thailand for foreign startups in Thailand?

“Thailand is very open to foreign startups.  Thailand has been historically open to foreigners and has mostly had amicable relations with them.  The Thai government is in the process of easing regulations on foreigners opening startups.”

Are there any industries on the horizon which Priceza may enter?

“Priceza’s has recently entered the industries of financial product comparison, insurance, cars, and personal loans. Perhaps MEDITECH could be an industry of the future, given the great demand from foreigners retiring in Thailand.”

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Naver Shopping vs eBay Korea http://startupradar.asia/naver-shopping-vs-ebay-korea/ http://startupradar.asia/naver-shopping-vs-ebay-korea/#respond Mon, 06 Aug 2018 08:16:18 +0000 http://startupradar.asia/?p=16474 Naver Shopping vs eBay Korea Naver Shopping vs eBay Korea.  These two e-commerce giants are in a tight battle to see who will sit at the top of Korea’s e-commerce market throne. In one corner you have eBay Korea which also manages Gmarket and Auction.  In the other you have Naver Shopping which leverages Korea’s…

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Naver Shopping vs eBay Korea

Naver Shopping vs eBay Korea.  These two e-commerce giants are in a tight battle to see who will sit at the top of Korea’s e-commerce market throne. In one corner you have eBay Korea which also manages Gmarket and Auction.  In the other you have Naver Shopping which leverages Korea’s top portal to bring in more customers.

An interesting fact is that most of the traffic that eBay Korea gets is from Naver.  Most Koreans do not use Google as their main search engine.  Rather a vast majority of Koreans use Naver.  eBay Korea depends on Naver to bring customers to their platform.  Naver Shopping started in 2014 and they were able to compete with eBay Korea because they did not charge commissions to small/medium businesses looking to sell their product on Naver Shopping.  This is where Naver Shopping vs eBay Korea debate started to grow.

Naver Shopping Holds a lot of Power

It seems only a matter of time before Naver ends up crushing eBay Korea because Naver holds most of the power.  In order for eBay Korea to come out top they will need to get Korean customers to stop using Naver, which won’t happen anytime soon.  The trend is showing that Naver Shopping is getting more and more customers every month while eBay Korea, G Market, and Auction have been losing customers every month.

One of the main reasons why Naver Shopping is outperforming Gmarket and Auction is Naver Shopping’s user friendly app which makes paying with Naver Pay a lot easier.  As Naver pay continues to grow so will Naver Shopping.  Items that can be bought with Naver Pay gets ranked very high in Naver searches.  The company that controls the search engines ends up dominating the market.

Still at the moment eBay Korea does over $7 billion in transactions compared to Naver which does a little over $4 billion.  However by 2020 it is estimated that Naver Shopping will end up overtaking eBay Korea unless eBay Korea can counter the growth of Naver Pay.

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Manage your Logistics with a Click!: Korean Startup ZhenHub http://startupradar.asia/manage-your-logistics-with-a-click-korean-startup-zhenhub/ http://startupradar.asia/manage-your-logistics-with-a-click-korean-startup-zhenhub/#respond Tue, 26 Jun 2018 15:14:26 +0000 http://startupradar.asia/?p=16182 Korean Startup ZhenHub Running a business gets more and more difficult as more products come in and out. As the level of inventory increases, related costs increase accordingly. It always matters if there are too much left or too little left.  Therefore the owner should keep an eye on it at all times. More than…

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Korean Startup ZhenHub

Running a business gets more and more difficult as more products come in and out. As the level of inventory increases, related costs increase accordingly. It always matters if there are too much left or too little left.  Therefore the owner should keep an eye on it at all times. More than that, customers now ask many questions about their orders and you have to count the inventory, seek the product, and track down the products deliveries to satisfy them. If you are the CEO, how would you deal with this?

Korean startup ZhenHub provides a cloud-based platform to execute global logistical operations to provide solutions for such cases. They found a big importance of automating the logistics supply plan with a single online application for companies. The platform is for easing expedition of deliveries and lowering the cost regarding efficiency. They help e-commerce and retailers to scale and automate their business.

Features of ZhenHub

Global Fulfillment

With ZhenHub, for requirements for shipping, all you need to do is to click a button. Once you click it, your orders will automatically be delivered to ZhenHub and packages will smoothly be prepared to be shipped directly to you.

Inventory Management

If you’ve been struggling to manage the inventory of your products, ZhenHub can help you. You can add, edit, and import your products and variants right away from your e-commerce. Comprehensive excel sheets will be created based on the information. You can simply download it with a simple click.

E-mail Notifications

Regulations matter a lot when you do e-commerce cross countries or boundaries. Missing information might put you in big trouble as your business gets bigger. Therefore, ZhenHub will alarm you. You can get updates on new shipping regulations through automated e-mails.

E-mail Customization

Communication with customers matters a lot more than ever these days. They ask you a lot of questions and you need to answer them in a right way and at the right time. To satisfy customers, you can send them updates on tracking and delivery with your own words.

Integrations

E-commerce integrations will be prepared for you. You can get a real-time overview of your orders and inventory through e-commerce integrations with Shopify, Magento, Amazon, Ebay, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and more.

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Korean E-Commerce Platform WeMakePrice to Accept Cryptocurrencies http://startupradar.asia/korean-e-commerce-platform-wemakeprice-to-accept-cryptocurrencies/ http://startupradar.asia/korean-e-commerce-platform-wemakeprice-to-accept-cryptocurrencies/#respond Tue, 30 Jan 2018 04:58:17 +0000 http://startupradar.asia/?p=1954 WeMakePrice Accepts Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin along with all other forms of digital currency have been up and down in 2018.  Mostly it has come down.  That is due to the Korean government regulations regarding this new form of money.  It seems more and more likely that digital currencies will be heavily regulated in South Korea.  This…

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WeMakePrice Accepts Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin along with all other forms of digital currency have been up and down in 2018.  Mostly it has come down.  That is due to the Korean government regulations regarding this new form of money.  It seems more and more likely that digital currencies will be heavily regulated in South Korea.  This could be the reason why Korean E-Commerce Platform WeMakePrice is accepting cryptocurrencies.  WeMakePrice will integrate 12 cryptocurrencies to its payment application to allow customers to pay using digital currencies.

Bitcoin Regulations in Korea

The regulations regarding bitcoin in Korea is not fully clear.  However one of the main issues seems to be about anonymity.  That could change as Korea is already implementing rules regarding bank account names matching cryptocurrency account names.  This way it will be much easier to track illegal activity and tax trades/exchanges.

WeMakePrice Partners with Bithumb

WeMakePrice has partnered with Bithumb, Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange. The main concern with cryptocurrency is the volatility.  The price is constantly changing.  Therefore if the transaction time is high then the value could end up being a lot different once the payment is processed.  More and more governments are looking to regulate cryptocurrency.  Therefore the value could continue to drop even further.

 

 

This could be why WeMakePrice is partnering with Bithumb.  They will integrate their payment system into their own to make transactions easier.  While WeMakePrice is a very large company, it could take 3-4 other large e-commerce sites to really fuel the demand for cryptocurrencies in Korea.  Other e-commerce sites seem to be waiting to see what kind of regulations the South Korean government will add before they look to use cryptocurrency payments.

WeMakePrice is looking a few steps ahead by being the first to market in Korea for using cryptocurrency payments.  Once there is a government standard that is recognized everywhere then people will feel safe to use cryptocurrencies.  Then the value could go back up.  Right now, there is a bad stigma in regards to digital currency.  Even today, most see bitcoin being used for illegal activities.  It is these illegal activities that many banks in Korea are afraid of.

The Future of Bitcoin in Korea

These laws and regulations can be looked at as a gift and a curse.  A gift in that it will bring more public trust for digital currencies and a curse because people won’t bother using digital currencies.  The most popular digital currency out there is still bitcoin.  Just a few years ago, many Koreans did not know about bitcoin.  It was only until last year when Koreans started to take notice.  There are hundreds of Koreans who have gotten rich off of bitcoin.

With all the bad news regarding Bitcoin in Korea, the news that WeMakePrice will be accepting digital currency gives hope that digital currency could possibly go mainstream.  It is highly likely that other e-commerce platforms will follow WeMakePrice if they are successfully using this payment method.  However, one should ask why use digital currency over fiat currency?  The main benefit of digital currency was that it was anonymous.  If you take that away, what is the difference?  It is possible some will not follow the rules set by the government.  They will continue to have anonymous accounts.  However, for those looking to follow the law, there is no reason to buy digital currency now.  Unless you want to trade.  Therefore how well WeMakePrice does with cryptocurrency is so important.

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