wenyingzi Liu
Monash University
Gitanjali Bedi
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The business model of Easybuy is unique, which is based on online-to-offline (OTO) retail. In fact, most of Chinese customers are interested in Australian health care products and baby formula, as they believe products made in Australia would have a high quality. Thus, Easybuy online store can provide a good platform for those customers choosing a healthy life (Goal 3: Good health and well-being).
Additionally, as an OTO retail business, the company also provides with “pack and send” services. During the interview, the manager emphasized that all the express boxes are reusable and they will not offer excessive packaging for any customer. Therefore, we believe that Easybuy company is an active supporter in Climate Action (Goal 13 Climate Action).
The business model of Easybuy is unique, which is based on Online-to-Offline (OTO) retail. To be specific, customers can purchase a wide range of Australian goods on Easybuy online store. They can easily access the products information including introductions, ratings, and comments and fill in the order and address in Chinese. Also, customers can make payments via online cross border payments such as credit card, AliPay, Royal Pay, or WeChat Pay, which are quite convenient for Chinese customers.
Many of the products offered by Easybuy online store are Australian and New Zealand products sold at fixed prices. These products vary from health care products, baby formula to skin care products and Australian groceries, which can meet the needs of different customers. Indeed, Easybuy online store provides a good platform for customers choosing a healthy life. “We think that everyone deserves a better quality of healthy and safe products, especially for those Chinese customers who have suffered from counterfeit problems before”, added Yingwu.
On the other side, the company has contributed a lot to the environment. For example, it is known that at present, the situation of excessive packaging is serious, especially express packaging. It will cause the environment polluted and the resources wasted. “In terms of the ‘pack and send’ services, we are making our efforts to reduce the waste of transport package to minimize the environmental pollution, and all the express boxes we use can be recycled”, Yingwu said.
The concept originated in February 2016 when demand in China for Australian based products. With the concerns of Chinese products with food safety and poor quality, with the continued counterfeit problems, it has contributed to a certain trust with Chinese brands. According to Yingwu, the lack of trust associated with Chinese brands have caused Chinese consumers to search for higher quality products, especially those from Western markets, including Australia. Because of this, he was motivated to begin an OTO business within Australia which focused on providing Chinese consumers an online platform for quality products. Additionally, Yingwu understood the potential benefits of entering the e-commerce market, thus deciding to begin the business venture with help from several investors.
While interviewing Yingwu, he mentioned believing markets do not only consist of the buyers and sellers but includes social responsibility. Furthermore, he stated that “being a Chinese parent, I do not trust baby formula from Chinese brands anymore. I prefer knowing baby formula is good quality and understand how bad quality baby formula may be harmful to children’s health and can destroy the family. Thus, I believe it is my responsibility to improve the confidence of Chinese parents and assist them with obtaining the safest and highest quality baby products possible”.
Therefore, in 2016 Easybuy established the initial online shopping platform, mostly focusing towards health care products and Australian baby formula.
With the OTO retail business, overseas customers can purchase a variety of Australian goods on Easybuy online store. This would help customers easily get high quality Australian products including baby formula and health care products, thus, ensure their healthy lives and promote human wellbeing.
Because of the Online-To-Offline retail, Easybuy has increased customer retention and customer wellbeing, and opened up a new market for the company. This has also resulted in an increase in sales and spurs the company to continuously strive for improvements. Recently, the company is planning to launch its Easybuy e-store App in August 2018 in order to improve the online shopping experience, which will attract more customers to download the new application to buy the products.
During the interview, Yingwu said that the business model actually works such that they actually protecting the environment while making money. Since customers can purchase products via Easybuy online store, so it would save their time to drive cars or take any public transports to go to physical stores. Additionally, all the express package used can be recycled, this would reduce the environment polluted and the resources wasted. Moreover, Easybuy is dedicated to bring high quality baby products to improve the confidence of Chinese parents and assist them with obtaining the safest and highest quality
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Yingwu Zhang, Founder
Easybuy is an Australian online retail company established in 2016 by Yingwu Zhang. The company facilitates Online-to-Offline (OTO) retail by providing a platform for personal shoppers and individual Chinese entrepreneurs to resell Australian groceries and health products that mainly cater to consumers in Chinese-speaking regions.
Meanwhile, Easybuy has also set up their Offline physical stores in Melbourne and offer “pack and send” services for overseas customers. “Our strategy is to build up the central warehouse in the near future”, said Yingwu.