fbpx
? Alan Lim talks about how he built his successful ecommerce company based out of HK, the importance of speed in his business, the advantage of being nimble in order to change the business model depending upon situations and the value of basing his business out of HK.

Teaser (00:59)

Audio Podcast


๐๐จ๐ญ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐๐ฎ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ:

โ€œ๐ผ๐‘“ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘, ๐ผ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก. ๐‘€๐‘ฆ ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘ฆโ€ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘  ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ โ€ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ง๐‘’. ๐ผ๐‘“ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ก 90% ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ 1, 92% ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ 2, ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ 2 ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ 98% ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ 7.โ€

โ€œ[๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ ] ๐ผ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ฆ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘’๐ต๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘ . ๐ผ๐‘› ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘Ž โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘๐‘๐‘ฆ, ๐‘ค๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 8 ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 32 ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ . ๐ผ ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐ผ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘—๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ฆ.โ€

โ€œ๐ผ๐‘› ๐ด๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘Ž, ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘˜ ๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ , ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘š๐‘’. ๐‘†๐‘œ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘› ๐ผ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐ฟ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐ป๐พ, ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘š๐‘’.โ€

โ€œ๐ป๐พ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘”๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘™. ๐ผ๐‘กโ€™๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘˜ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘’๐‘ก, โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›, ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘€๐‘๐ท๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘˜๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘“๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘“๐‘“๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘”๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘ .โ€

โ€œ๐ผ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ -๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’-๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘’. ๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘’๐‘™๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“๐‘“๐‘–๐‘๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘œ ๐‘ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค. ๐‘€๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘. ๐ป๐‘’๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜๐‘  ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘š๐‘’.โ€

โ€œ๐ต๐‘’๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐ป๐พ ๐‘”๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘“๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘› ๐ถโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘Ž.โ€

โ€œ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘˜๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž. ๐‘‚๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘š.โ€

โ€œ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘–๐‘” ๐‘๐‘’๐‘™๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘-๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ข๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ-๐‘ก๐‘œ-๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘š๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐ท๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก. ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘–๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›. ๐‘‚๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘’๐‘ฅ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ, ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘ข๐‘๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿโ€ฆ  ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘š๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ โ€ฆ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘ข๐‘๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘˜ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก.โ€

โ€œ๐ป๐พ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘“ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘’๐‘™๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘ก, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’.โ€

๐†๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ž:

Alan Lim was born in Singapore. In 2002, at the age of 22, he founded his first company whilst still studying at the University of London. Alan grew his online retail group to achieve annual turnover exceeding $50 million and employing over 80 staff in just 5 years without any external financing.

In 2009, Alan moved back to Asia, founding E-Services Group (ESG) in Hong Kong. ESG quickly established close partnerships with e-commerce big-hitters such as Google, eBay, and Amazon. Under Alan’s direction, ESG has grown into a leading provider of E-commerce solutions to a variety of household brands ranging from Mattel to Skype, helping them to grow their online sales, logistics and expanding their global footprint.

Today, ESG is considered global leader in cross border ecommerce and is enabling China based ecommerce companies to expand their sales to over 6 continents globally. There are currently over 20,000 companies working with ESG, which ESG had helped generated hundreds of millions revenue for its clients every year.

Alan is widely acknowledged as an e-commerce expert and a successful entrepreneur, most recently being recognized with the Young Entrepreneur of the year award at the inaugural SCMP Enterprising Hong Kong Awards.

Add comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Newsletter