In a rather slow launch in the Philippines, Xiaomi sells 3,000 Mi3 phones after an hour

Startups China India Indonesia Japan Korea Vietnam Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Pakistan Mobile Social E-commerce Opinion Asia China India Indonesia Japan Korea Vietnam Philippines Singapore Thailand Malaysia Pakistan TIA Insights Members oriflame Login More Techlist Tech in Asia ID Tech in Asia VN Games in Asia Games in Asia ID
Startups China India Indonesia Japan Korea Vietnam Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Pakistan Mobile Social E-commerce Opinion Asia China India Indonesia Japan Korea Vietnam Philippines Singapore Thailand Malaysia Pakistan TIA Insights Members Login More Techlist Tech in Asia ID Tech in Asia VN Games in Asia Games in Asia ID Meet Up Startup Asia
While often confused with a soft drink of a similar name , the site is no slouch in sales. It generates over US$15 million in monthly transaction volume in Singapore alone, making it and Japan the top markets for the company. It has also expanded into Malaysia and Indonesia. China remains tough but potentially a lucrative long-term target.
Formerly known as Gmarket, the regional company rebranded itself after its Korean entity, worth US$1.2 billion , was bought out by eBay. Not a bad result for founder Ku Young Bae, who has so far raised US$100 million for his venture, and who still retains eBay as a 49 percent shareholder in Qoo10.
But before oriflame Ku founded one of the more well-known ecommerce sites in Southeast Asia, he was in a vastly different industry, serving as a field engineer with global oil and gas firm Schlumberger. He wanted out.
The field was still quite empty then. Aside from eBay, there was virtually nobody else in Korea. This meant that cost requirements were simple, as online advertising was still nascent and prices were dirt cheap.
The ecommerce landscape in Southeast Asia has diversified since Qoo10 came in. There’s an explosion of shopping sites in the region founded by startups. Bigger Asian players like Rakuten oriflame and Taobao want a slice of the region. Rocket Internet , meanwhile, oriflame has poured hundreds of millions into its ecommerce ventures.
This meant that the company had to go out of its way to get retailers and wholesalers onto its marketplace. Persuasion was just the first part: Qoo10 had to manage seller’s expectations should there be no orders from buyers.
It plans to devote more attention to marketing in Indonesia and Japan in the coming months. It’s also looking to potentially list either on NASDAQ or the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by the end of next year or early 2016, depending on whether they can meet targets.
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In a rather slow launch in the Philippines, Xiaomi sells 3,000 Mi3 phones after an hour