Ecommerce in China get all the headlines, but the real ecommerce boom is actually taking place in South East Asia. Lazada and Shopee are the top ecommerce platforms in ASEAN and are far easier to break into than Tmall.hk or JD Worldwide.
That said, consumers in South East Asia are as savvy as those in Europe, the US or China. They demand fast deliveries, and the option to return products.
Managing your ASEAN product fulfillment from overseas is practically impossible.
Luckily, Ecommerce fulfillment companies like Boxme.asia enable businesses worldwide to store, pack and ship products across South East Asia.
In this article, Jerad Tan, General Manager of Boxme.asia, explains how they can help you tap into the world’s fastest growing ecommerce market by utilizing their fulfillment centers in Vietnam.
Jerad, what’s the story behind Boxme.asia?
Founded by Nexttech.asia – a group of companies focusing on E-commerce solutions in Asia, Boxme is the premier cross-border e-Commerce fulfillment network in South East Asia, enabling worldwide merchants to sell online into this region without the need to establish a local presence.
We provide fulfillment and shipping solutions for E-commerce merchants so they can easily sell and manage orders from Omni-channels and cross-borders, especially in the South East Asia region.
Basically, with Boxme, anyone from any country can easily sell cross-border to other countries and automate their orders through various e-commerce platforms that are connected to Boxme, while we help them fulfill orders and delivery to customers.
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- Selling on Tmall & Lazada
- Logistics & fulfillment options
- Payment gateways
- Incorporation & trademarks
What’s the benefit of using an eCommerce fulfillment center such as Boxme.asia?
As business growth, leveraging and outsourcing fulfillment from the third party is crucial to merchants in order to increase sales and reduce costs. Complete fulfillment comprises of storage, accurate picking, and packing, packaging, shipping, delivery, cash on delivery and returns processing.
For instance, merchants leveraging on fulfillment services offer by the expert to enhance the seamless experience and operational efficiency.
By deploying a fulfillment center allowing merchants to lower down operating costs, reduce processes, improved business focus and marketing optimization, efficient fulfillment to reduce inventory, enhance customer service experiences from the shorter time of delivery to better customer service centric. Ultimately, increase sales.
You operate one fulfillment center in Hanoi, and another in Ho Chi Minh City. Why did you set up in Vietnam?
We operate fulfillment centers across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand as well. But we operate first in Vietnam due to the connection we have with Shipchung – the number 1 shipping gateway in Vietnam for the last 7 years, which is also a company within Nexttech Group.
From there we can together with Shipchung providing merchants with a more comprehensive solution to reduce their cost and effort in processing orders and also help them selling cross-borders.
Can you deliver across all South East Asia from Vietnam, or do you only deliver domestically?
Our shipping solution is not only in South East Asia, but we can help deliver products anywhere in the world.
We do both cross docking shipment from Vietnam to other countries and domestic last mile delivery within the countries that we have fulfillment centers.
Let’s say I want to sell my products on Lazada and use your fulfillment centers. Do I need to open a company in Vietnam and pay import duties to store my products in the country?
To store your products at our fulfillment centers in Vietnam, you do need to import the products to Vietnam and pay import duties/tax.
You do not really need to open a local entity in Vietnam because we have a trading company here to cater to do importation on behalf of you.
The trading company will do importation, pay duty and other tax, collect COD and remit COD to your overseas account.
How does this work? Say that a US company wants to sell on Lazada and fulfill from Vietnam using your centers. Can they just send the products to you in Vietnam?
Yes, the client can send the products to us in Vietnam. Our team will cross-check with the client for necessary info such as packing list, custom clearance documents, etc based on cases in order to have a seamless cross-border shipment, deploy our fulfillment service and start selling in Vietnam.
Is there any benefit of using a fulfillment center in Vietnam or elsewhere in ASEAN, compared to one in Hong Kong?
A Vietnam-based fulfillment center is much more cost-efficient due to the low labor cost, which is only a third compared to Mainland China for fulfillment services.
Further, shipping from Vietnam to other countries in SEA is faster compared to from Hong Kong.
Furthermore, it allows merchants to penetrate the market rapidly and eventually deploy local fulfillment center in each country within the region.
Let’s say I receive an order from a customer in Singapore, what happens next?
Normally, one will have to find courier and create order, track order, and everything. With Boxme, once you connect your ecommerce store with us, you will receive a notification to confirm your order, choose the best shipping option by comparing various couriers in our system.
Then the chosen courier will come and collect your parcel and deliver to your customer in Singapore.
You can track everything in the Boxme system. If you choose to fulfill the order to make it looks shiny and customized, we will do it in Boxme fulfillment center and get the product delivered afterward.
I assume that my customer would then need to pay import taxes in Singapore, right?
You can choose either you or your customer will pay. It depends on your selling policy. If you want import taxes paid by the seller, we can collect it from you.
Lazada has become the Amazon or Tmall of South East Asia. Can you help Lazada sellers fulfill orders?
Lazada has their own fulfillment center to help fulfill orders for their sellers. But for sellers who sell omnichannel (having orders in various selling channels like Shopee, Lazada, Facebook, etc., we can help them fulfill in a centralized warehouse and deliver to customers from anywhere.
If the client engages us, for this case, we are able to assist them in storage and pick and pack only. Last mile delivery will be supported by Lazada.
How can sellers learn how to label the product and the packaging when selling across South East Asia?
It is straightforward by complying with local labeling regulations by affixing a small label or sticker with the necessary information to your packaging.
For instance, information such as ingredients labeled in a foreign [local] language (Non-English), local distributor information sticker. Overall, your freight forwarder may able to assist you in terms of matters as such.
About Boxme.asia
BoxMe is the premier cross-border e-Commerce fulfillment network in Southeast Asia, enabling worldwide merchants to sell online into this region without needing to establish a local presence.
We are able to deliver our services by aggregating and operating a one-stop value chain of logistic professions including International shipping, customs clearance, warehousing, connection to local marketplaces, pick and pack, last mile delivery, local payment collection, and overseas remittance.
If you have any questions about Boxme Asia or how we can support your business, please contact us directly by referring to our hotline: +84 1900 636 068. We are glad to be of service!
Email address: support@boxme.asia
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