Hongkong based Buyandship, a cross-border e-commerce shipping services has secured $2.2 million in pre-Series B funding round led by existing investor Infinity Venture Partners.
Other investors include Asia-focused VC firm SQ Capital and unnamed strategic angel investors, besides Buyandship’s key management. The money will be used to improve operational efficiencies and for market expansion.
Wilson Chan, Co-founder, and CEO of Buyandship, says, that Asian e-shoppers are primarily motivated by the enormous difference in prices: “Buying a latest Dyson product on Indian online store costs around US$800, but less than US$500 from an overseas online store. At a discount rate of nearly 40 percent, customers naturally prefer to shop from overseas stores.”
In operations, Buyandship will streamline its logistics and shopping experience with an advanced warehouse automation system, simplified shopping procedures, and a new “one-click buy” tool. In market expansion, Buyandship will look to solidify its market presence in existing markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, India, and the UAE, as well as develop new markets in Southeast Asia.
Founded in 2014, Buyandship provides global shipping services for e-commerce customers. They can choose the firm for international shipping and deals, products, and exclusives from overseas merchants. Customers can pay US$6 per pound in shipping fees, and receive parcels at home. Using the service, the parcels are fully tracked from end to end with an average delivery time of 8-10 working days from the arrival to the warehouse.
It currently operates collection and export warehouses in Japan, South Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the US, the UK, Italy, and Australia. Scheduled flights from these warehouses back to HK are arranged on a weekly basis, while the delivery fee will be based on the parcel’s actual weight (not parcel size).
After closing its Series A funding in mid-2017, it has expanded into Mainland China, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and the UAE. It boasts of more than 320,000 users.
Buyandship has already signed agreements with eBay, StockX, GLADD, Drop, and other merchants to support their Asia expansions.
As per a 2018 report by OECD, B2C cross-border e-commerce is growing fast as Asian e-shoppers look to buy directly from overseas brands rather than settle only for local options. B2C cross-border e-commerce to Asia should reach US$900 billion in value by 2021, with a CAGR of approximately 18.8 percent. Demand from China alone will account for nearly two-thirds of this total, but Vietnam and Indonesia will show higher growth rates.