Tag: Honestbee

  • Aeon plans foray into on-demand delivery services

    Aeon plans foray into on-demand delivery services

    Aeon Co (M) Bhd signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore-based online concierge and delivery service, honestbee, to venture into on-demand delivery services.

    This new delivery option, which uses personal shoppers to pick up and deliver orders, will enable Aeon customers to make their purchases online, via honestbee mobile app or website.

    Speaking at the signing ceremony, Aeon executive director Poh Ying Loo said the alliance is part of the group’s strategy to speed up its e-commerce business and at the same time add value to its outlets.

    Aeon joined the e-commerce bandwagon in late 2015 through its online website called shoppu.com.my, offering various product categories including electronics, fashion and household items.

    Asked on how this new service will help to elevate its e-commerce sales growth, Poh said at this point of time, it is still early to determine. It was reported that the group’s online website shoppu.com.my contribution in financial year 2016 (FY16) remained marginal.

    For now, Poh said the new online marketplace platform will only offer delivery service for grocery items at its flagship store, Aeon Mid Valley. He said customer who live within 17km radius from the store will enjoy a minimum one-hour delivery service.

    Commenting on its future plans for e-commerce segment, Aeon managing director Shinobu Washizawa said going forward, the group will have more such innovations in the pipeline.

    “In order to enhance the value for our customers by moving towards an omni-channel retailer, we want to combine our strengths with honestbee’s expertise to digitalise our customer’s shopping experience.”

    “We will closely monitor the feedback and demands from our customers, and consider to expand this service both in terms of regional and in merchandise offering,” Washizawa added.

    At present, Aeon has 26 malls, 33 Aeon outlets and two Maxvalu prime supermarkets across the country.

    Launched in 2015, honestbee currently has presence in eight markets including Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. To date, it has 112 partners, providing more than 90,000 products across the markets.

  • Honestbee Thailand partners with Villa Market

    Honestbee Thailand partners with Villa Market

    Honestbee Thailand is partnering with supermarket chain Villa Market for home deliveries.

    Since launching in Thailand in March, the Singapore-based online concierge and delivery service says it has had “six months of great success” and is gearing up for American Thanksgiving and Halloween celebrations.

    “The one-stop shop continues to attract the trendsetters of Bangkok and extend to the outer reaches of the metropolitan area,” says Honestbee.

    In September, Honestbee partnered with CP Fresh Mart to offer a delivery service with products at cheaper prices than retail. Other outlets that have partnered with Honestbee Thailand include restaurant and bakery S&P and the Australian chain Jones the Grocer.

    As well as grocery deliveries, Honestbee has launched a curated restaurant food-delivery service in Bangkok.

    “Thailand is an e-commerce hub and the concept of on-demand online services appeals to customers, particularly busy Bangkok urbanites,” says Honestbee Thailand country manager Bounthay Khammanyvong.

    Villa Market predominantly targets expatriates, with stores in Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya and Huahinh.

  • Honestbee flies high with new logistics services honestbee GOODSHIP

    Honestbee flies high with new logistics services honestbee GOODSHIP

    Honestbee, Asia’s leading and trusted online concierge and delivery service has today officially announced the launch of honestbee GOODSHIP, their logistics service in Thailand.

    Honestbee GOODSHIP has been operating parcel deliveries in Bangkok for a couple of months before this official announcement, catering to B2B and B2C deliveries. The focus is on last-mile same-day or next-day e-commerce delivery with a move towards on-demand delivery for end-consumers within an hour to follow soon.

    Country Head of honestbee GOODSHIP, Theresa Mathawaphan has a background in retail, technology management and business start-up and was part of the international team who developed the country’s first tech start-up incubator at the Thailand Science Park. She is confident that honestbee GOODSHIP will be a good partner for many businesses in the city.

    “Logistics can let companies down and therefore being able to call on the reliable services of a third-party, and one that understands the need for a fast, trustworthy delivery is crucial, particularly in a city where, whether online or offline, goods need to move quickly. Customer tracking and a real-time fleet tracking system are essential elements of this service too.”

    Thailand’s Electronic Transactions Development Agency has forecasted that the total e-commerce market in Thailand this year will be worth Bt2.52 trillion (USD74 billion).

    With daily deliveries of honestbee GOODSHIP now surpassing the grocery and restaurant deliveries combined, the target is to deliver in excess of 50,000 orders per day over the next 12 months.

    As well as Thailand, honestbee GOODSHIP has a successful presence in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Japan.  More countries are to be rolled out to provide the excellent services to its partners and non-partners.

    Currently, honestbee runs two B2C delivery services in Bangkok; groceries handpicked by shoppers and delivered fresh to customers’ doors in one hour as well as restaurant food deliveries with customers ordering online and on-demand delivery in less than 60 minutes.

    Bounthay Khammanyvong, honestbee Country General Manager, Thailand has experience in building up successful companies to create billion-dollar businesses and working with cutting edge e-commerce. He believes that honestbee GOODSHIP is a natural progression for honestbee and will really take flight in Thailand.

    “E-commerce in Thailand is going through an incredible boom period, and at the heart of that success is logistics, both for businesses which need products delivered to certain branches or retail outlets and for consumers who order online. With its own boutique-style e-commerce platform, honestbee has relevant experience of business and consumer delivery demands in order to create the right quality of customizable services and branding customers can trust.”

    The Thai e-commerce market is not only growing but consumer experience online is growing as is the digital ecosystem, Internet penetration and social commerce channels which contributes to the majority of all deliveries.

    Currently honestbee GOODSHIP’s fleet consists of 80% delivery motorbikes or ‘Rider-Bees’ and 20% delivery trucks. There are also services rolling out soon that would help marry the online and offline world.

    Some of the current honestbee GOODSHIP clients include Nu Skin, SE-ED Books, aCommerce, Aramex, Siam Outlet, City-Link and OfficeMate.

     

  • Honestbee Food launches meal deliveries

    Honestbee Food launches meal deliveries

    Honestbee Food restaurant delivery service has been extended to Hong Kong.

    This follows the grocery and concierge service Honestbee partnering last month with eight major supermarkets, including UK retailer Tesco.

    To mark the launch of the meal-delivery service, Honestbee Food is offering special deals to Hong Kong customers, plus a free delivery promotion, until September 20.

  • A sophisticated e-commerce model attracts 8 major supermarkets

    A sophisticated e-commerce model attracts 8 major supermarkets

    Honestbee, Asia’s leading online grocery and concierge service, where professional concierge shoppers handpick and deliver fresh groceries from top local stores,
    has announced partnerships with eight well-known major supermarket partners in Hong Kong on June 20th.

    Providing a turnkey solution for supermarkets to gain new customer bases and incremental revenue, Honestbee presents itself as an attractive solution to traditional supermarkets and boutique stores looking to grow their sales and customer base overnight.

    Honestbee, a Singaporean tech startup founded in 2015 operating in eight major cities in Asia including Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Taipei, Bangkok, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, is now extending its service to include Japanese lifestyle brand YATA Supermarket, local chain supermarket Taste, as well as U select which sells close to 600 products from the UK’s leading supermarket, TESCO.

    Agreements with eight supermarkets including PARKnSHOP, Great Food Hall, Taste, Fusion, International (will launch in July), YATA Supermarket, U select and TESCO have allowed Honestbee to offer over 30,000 items to consumers in Hong Kong. The company continually innovates to improve the shopping varieties and delivery capabilities with the aim of delighting its customers, and building the largest and most convenient online grocery concierge service in Asia.

    Apart from the technological expertise and efficient network, the valuable information and solutions honestbee offers partners has played no small part in attracting new stores. “It’s a turnkey e-commerce solution”, said Hong Kong country manager of honestbee, Derek Winder. “This means, if someone wants to launch an e-commerce platform, they can use honestbee to build their e-commerce store as well as handle the payments, professional customer service team and logistics. Plus, our system captures valuable information like the most popular products, customer frequency, product ordering information and out of stock circumstances. This consumer data is incredibly useful and can easily help our partners realize which items they should stock more of!”

    With no upfront cost and a professional customer service team readily available to offer tailored solutions, honestbee’s e-commerce package presents an attractive offer to potential partners. Additionally, the company provides information not readily available to retailers in brick-and-mortar stores. This can include customer frequency, product ordering information, out of stock circumstances and the geographical location of orders. The ability to share which products are most popular during a certain time frame, for example, allows supermarkets to implement targeted marketing strategies.

    Along with comparatively high rental costs in Hong Kong, honestbee provides the ideal e-commerce platform – a critical component for all the partners looking to boost both online and offline sales.

    Since its launch, the company has successfully grown to become one of the most advanced players in the on-demand category, with 60% of customers making use of the service at least once a week and spending an average of HK$750 per visit. From the beginning, honestbee’s commitment has been to deliver a superior customer experience, become an invaluable partner for retailers, and give back to the community. Other than the major supermarkets mentioned above, honestbee partners with popular boutique stores in Hong Kong including Feather & Bone, The Butchers Club, Pet Line and Baby Central.

    Thanks to the recognizable regional expansion and quality service, honestbee has just won the Wild Digital #BOOM Startup of the Year award on 24th May 2017, which recognizes startups that have demonstrated outstanding growth.

  • Honestbee sweetens Thai operations budget

    Honestbee sweetens Thai operations budget

    Honestbee, a Singapore-based online grocery and concierge service provider, is boosting its presence in Thailand to capitalise on lucrative online shopping opportunities.

    “We are spending millions of US dollars in Thailand this year on increasing our local staff, upgrading our IT infrastructure, and adding marketing activities,” said Bounthay Khammanyvong, country manager of HonestBee Thailand.

    He said Thailand is the seventh market in Asia-Pacific for Honestbee since it began operations in 2015, following Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The company is expanding into the Philippines soon, said Mr Bounthay.

    Just three months after it started operations in Bangkok this January, transactions at its Thai website ranked third among the seven countries where it has a presence.

    Honestbee provides online grocery concierge and delivery service through partnerships with leading supermarkets who have no online retail channel.

    Customers choose their products online and place their orders either via its local website — www.honestbee.co.th — or its mobile application through Google Play or the Apple Store. The company’s concierge shoppers then hand-pick their groceries for them.

    Honestbee earns a commission from its merchant partners. The company charges customers a flat rate of 30 baht with no minimum purchase requirements.

    The company has over 10,000 users in Thailand.

    Mr Bounthay said Honestbee’s service does not compete with offline retail stores, instead complementing their offerings to accommodate the shift towards online shopping.

    He said the company is focusing on improving the speed of its delivery service to reach customers’ homes in an hour.

    Its target customers are millennials, housewives, and multi-generational family households with high purchasing power.

  • Online Shopping Concierge & Delivery Service honestbee Celebrates Thai New Year with Freebies

    Online Shopping Concierge & Delivery Service honestbee Celebrates Thai New Year with Freebies

    Honestbee, Asia’s leading and trusted online concierge and delivery service, is following its Bangkok launch in March 2017 with 3 free water-festival weekly giveaways with all shopping orders from now until April 17th, 2017. A bonus gift of a traditional Songkran Aloha shirt is also delivered on the next order for those shop-happy customers who have already collected the trio of Songkran freebies. 

    With no minimum spend, honestbee customers will receive a free pair of goggles on all shops until April 1st, 2017, with a free water gun included in the delivery between April 2nd – 8th, 2017. In the final week, from April 9th – 17th, the last day of the Thai New Year celebrations in Bangkok, honestbee customers will find a waterproof phone pouch in with their delivered groceries.

    As a Happy New Year wish, honestbee is also gifting every customer with a one-time B200 discount on orders over B890 to be used at any time from now until April 17th, 2017.

    honestbee customers who are Songkran-ready, with their goggles, water gun and mobile-phone case can happily venture out and join in some water-splashing festival fun. At the same time, they can rest assured that with personal shoppers –  so-called honeybees-  will be picking out the freshest quality produce and delivering straight to their doorstep at their convenience with a same-day service available; fast, reliable and more importantly during Songkran, dry!

    The ethos behind honestbee is to be lifestyle-friendly according to the Singapore company’s Co-Founder and CEO Joel Sng. “We want to celebrate the real community spirit of Songkran and how life is really about spending time doing what we enjoy with those we care about, from friends and family to neighbors. honestbee enables busy people in the city to outsource the time and effort of shopping whilst still getting that personalized service that fits in with them. This also benefits our shoppers with sustainable employment on a full-time or part-time basis, offering a main or supplementary income. This is truly the spirit of New Year!”

    Along with the Songkran freebies and discount special, new customers can take advantage of FREE DELIVERY on first-time orders over THB 590 to celebrate the honestbee Bangkok launch.

    honestbee offers its personalized shopping concierge service from Bangkok’s 26 Villa Market supermarket outlets as well as bistro and cooking studio The Gastro Just For You hamper gifts and the Villa Market Holiday Store all of which are owned by Villa Market. Other brand specialty partners comprise K-Market; Wishbeer; Ja Guem Song; Happy Flavour; Pierre Hermé; Perfect Earth Organics; Ahmad Tea London; Pipper Standard; Simply W, La Paloma and Meyer.

  • Honestbee Thailand launches in Bangkok

    Honestbee Thailand launches in Bangkok

    Singapore on-demand online grocery concierge and delivery service Honestbee has launched in Bangkok.

    In partnership with retail chain Villa Market, Honestbee is offering customers a faster and easier way to obtain their daily groceries through concierge shoppers. Honestbee has been training the shoppers to select the best quality groceries and deliver them the same day.

    Under the partnership, Honestbee will use all Villa Market’s outlets throughout Bangkok as well as its bistro and cooking studio The Gastro, and the Villa Market Holiday Store.

    Honestbee co-founder/CEO Joel Sng says the company has been doing some trial runs during the past few months.

    Honestbee Executive - Mr Joel Sng

    He says Honestbee is committed to help Villa Market and other speciality stores work online through technology such as website and mobile apps, plus logistics. Honestbee also aims to create flexible jobs.

    Honest Bee website

     

    Honestbee’s one-stop app service will offer a range of more than 11,000 products from grocery chains and gourmet/specialty food suppliers. These include organic foods, fresh fruits, imported frozen meats, wines, specialty drinks, hampers, seasonal products and kitchen supplies from partners including Ahmad Tea London, Happy Flavour, Ja Guem Song, K-Market, Meyer, Perfect Earth Organics, Pierre Herme Paris, Pipper Standard, Simply W and Wishbeer, with more to come.

    Prices are the same as in store, and deliveries are to the customer’s doorstep. There is a special voucher promotion to help launch the service.

    As well as Singapore, Honestbee already has a presence in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan.

    Established in 1974, Villa Market was a retail pioneer when the only outlets to buy groceries in Bangkok were markets and small grocery stores.

  • $100m deal for RedMart?

    $100m deal for RedMart?

    A $100 million investment aimed at funding pan-Asian expansion is on the cards for Singapore’s online grocer RedMart.

    Discussions involving the Series C investment are said to be at an advanced stage, reportsTechCrunch, citing two sources. While closure is expected in this first quarter, the grocery company has not issued any public comment on the development.

    Launched in late 2011 by Vikram Lupani, Rajesh Lingappa and Roger Egan, the venture introduced online and on-demand shopping in Singapore. So far, the company has raised $55.1 million from 19 investors. These include, according to Crunchbase, gaming company Garena, SoftBank Ventures Korea, Visionnaire Ventures and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.

    In August, RedMart raised a $26.7 million bridging round from its investors.

    Potential targets for RedMart’s expansion include Hong Kong and Jakarta, reports DealStreetAsia. However, the firm wants to establish its market leadership in Singapore, where Egan estimates the grocery market to be worth $16 billion a year. The company’s strategy is to maintain its own logistics system and warehouses so as to have greater control of the customer service cycle and enable rapid expansion later into other verticals.

    RedMart’s Asian competitors, HonestBee and HappyFresh, have raised significant equity financing and have adopted a model relying on third-party logistics and delivery services while expanding across South-east Asia and establishing a presence in Hong Kong and Taiwan, says DealStreetAsia.

  • Singapore’s Honestbee launches in Japan

    Singapore’s Honestbee launches in Japan

    Honestbee, the fast-growing on-demand grocery concierge and delivery service company founded in Singapore just last July, has launched its service in Japan.

    The first Japan stop of many to come, visiting tourists can now enjoy the convenience of grocery shopping via the online portal honestbee.jp in Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan, from now until February 29.

    Honestbee’s point of difference to other online grocery shopping services is that it partners with retailers to offer a high-quality array of products and uses concierge shoppers to fulfil orders on demand – and then deliver them. It expanded into Hong Kong in October, and its next market is Taiwan, where it launches in a fortnight.

    “Niseko is one of the most popular ski destinations in the world which sees a great amount of tourist visits every season. While these families look forward to grocery shopping, the closest supermarket in the area is an hour away,” said Joel Sng, co-founder and CEO, Honestbee.

    “With technology and software, we plan to offer our customers the same level of convenience they have back home by travelling alongside them. Now they can better spend their time skiing or sipping hot chocolate somewhere else.”

    With the launch of this service, ski-lovers and snowboarders can now spend more time skiing on the powdery slopes of Niseko and have their groceries covered by Honestbee.

    As the third-largest economy in the world, Japan presents a wealth of opportunities for Honestbee’s expansion. Niseko is a world-renowned region in the Hokkaido prefecture. With the launch of the New Chitose Airport, increased direct flights to Sapporo from neighbouring cities have contributed to the dramatic rise of international tourists to about 1.5 million throughout the year. Foreign investments in properties in the ski areas have also fuelled economic growth in Niseko.

    Maintaining its commitment to offering a one-stop shop for a range of highly curated and specialty products, customers in Niseko will be able to shop for the freshest groceries, local Hokkaido and international products at major brands well-loved by the locals.

    While the Hokkaido launch may be perceived as something of an experiment or publicity stunt, Honestbee has confirmed it will offer a permanent service in more Japanese cities next year.

  • Honestbee secures $15m for Asian expansion

    Honestbee secures $15m for Asian expansion

    Honestbee, Singapore’s fast-growing, on-demand grocery concierge and delivery service has raised first round funding of US$15 million.

    And behind the cash are some seriously experienced eCommerce and online business experts, including:

    • Pejman Mar Ventures, early investors in Dropbox, Lending Club and DoorDash.
    • Gideon Yu, former CFO of Facebook and YouTube; co-owner of the San Francisco 49ers.
    • Owen T Van Natta, founding team of Amazon search company A9.com and former COO of Facebook.
    • Steve Chen, Google Ventures advisor, as well as co-founder and former CTO of YouTube.

    Honestbee partners with supermarkets and specialty stores such as NTUC FairPrice, the Pet Lovers Center, and gourmet boutiques and specialty stores, Gastronomia Da Paolo, Mmmm!, The Butcher’s Dog, Crystal Wines, GNC and Four Seasons Organic, in Singapore. This enables these traditional grocery companies to significantly increase their revenue through Honestbee’s on-demand eCommerce platform where they fulfil customers’ orders in as little time as within the next hour.

    “We are very excited and blessed to have been able to attract support from some of the most successful entrepreneurs and investors with unparalleled track records in the world,” said Honestbee co-founder, Isaac Tay.

    “Honestbee will benefit tremendously, as we now have immediate access to the top minds who have built the most valuable technology companies in the world today, such as Amazon, YouTube, Google, Square, Dropbox, DoorDash and Palantir.

    “We started with a mission to create a highly elastic and trained workforce that would bring invaluable convenience to our customers through our concierge and delivery services. Most people in Asia are time-starved due to the demands of their job and a large proportion of the population do not possess their own vehicles. With our on-demand delivery service, time-crunched customers can enjoy the widest choices from their favourite stores, even at the last minute, when they shop through Honestbee,” he said.

    Formation 8, which led the funding round, believes the ‘hyper-local on-demand market’ plays a significant role in the way commerce will evolve.

    “Given the increasing population density across all the key cities in Asia due to job and wealth creation, this is right time and opportunity,” said Formation 8 founder, Brian Koo.

    “Consumers now demand higher levels of access to convenience. With Honestbee’s superior partnership network and its strong focus on building a world class technology company, they will be well-positioned to quickly own this market.”

    Honestbee has expanded its team to almost 100 people in just eight months, and continues to scout the best talent from around the world. With aggressive plans to expand across Asia, Honestbee expects to be in at least six other Tier 1 cities by June 2016.

    Last week, Honestbee launched in Hong Kong, offering a one-stop shop for a range of products to meet the needs of busy customers.

    According to a Goldman Sachs report, the online grocery shopping market in Asia is currently estimated at US$18 billion with online carts typically being 1.8 times larger than store-based retail at checkout.

    The willingness to use digital retailing options in the future is highest in the developing markets, with Asia Pacific at 60 per cent in a recent Nielsen report, signaling the great potential for growth in online grocery delivery services in the region.

    “In light of the potential, however, this space is under-penetrated, with intended providers facing challengers in both services and delivery,” said Tay.

    Honestbee’s solution to these challenges – a model that has proven successful in this sharing economy – is to use someone else’s spare time to shop and deliver groceries, thus freeing up customers to spend their time doing more of what they enjoy.

    “With a crowdsourced workforce, orders are fulfilled by concierge shoppers who shop at top supermarkets and boutiques stores, and a delivery team which brings the orders to customers’ homes, all within-the-next-hour golden time slots of choice. This eliminates the cost of infrastructure building, such as the need for warehousing, additional manpower and equipment. In return, honestbee brings increased efficiency and convenience to customers, as well as improved margins for partners.”

  • Honestbee, NTUC FairPrice partner online

    Honestbee, NTUC FairPrice partner online

    Singapore-based Honestbee and NTUC FairPrice have partnered to enable customers to have FairPrice products delivered to them within the next hour.

    This enables customers to carry out their grocery shopping from their favorite stores – in the comfort of their homes – via the honestbee online portal and receive their delivery in the next hour.

    Honestbee started just eight months ago and is already planning imminent expansion into Hong Kong and Taiwan and with further Asian markets on the radar.

    It is the first ‘concierge grocery delivery service’ in Singapore.

    “Through this partnership, we look to enhance the overall retail experience for customers and elevate the online supermarket retail industry to even higher heights,” said Honestbee co-founder and CEO Joel Sng.

    “With honestbee, we are now able to provide an on demand level of convenience for NTUC FairPrice and all customers.”

    “Through this partnership, we look to enhance the overall retail experience for customers and elevate the online supermarket retail industry to even higher heights,” said Dominic Ng, deputy GM (FairPrice Online) NTUC FairPrice.

  • HonestBee triggers Singapore food fight

    HonestBee triggers Singapore food fight

    A new player in Singapore’s online grocery market – honestbee – is set to bring a unique approach and ramp up the competition.

    Jonathan Low, co-founder of the new concept, describes honestbee as “an Instacart-like service which assigns a freelance runner to buy groceries on your behalf from the nearest supermarket”.

    Honestbee is the latest entrant in Singapore’s online grocery battle, and it’s eager to prove it can deliver the goods. Casual observers probably won’t spot many differences between the service and its competitors, which now include RedMart, PurelyFresh, and GoFresh. Even supermarkets like Cold Storage are upping the ante with a revamped online shopping site.

    Indeed, they all seem to work the same way. After entering your postal code, the site tells you what merchants are available in the area. You then select one of its partners – from supermarkets like Cold Storage and Sheng Siong to smaller setups like Pet Lovers Centre and Gastronomia.

    Next comes putting items in your shopping cart, picking a time slot, and checking out. The service waives delivery fees for basket sizes above a certain amount. And, if all goes well – and it usually does – the delivery guy rings your doorbell at the appointed time.

    So far so good. But where honestbee really shines is its promise of delivering groceries to you within an hour, writes Terence Lee on TechInAsia.com.

    “Well, more like two hours, as the case was for me. I made my purchase at 11.30am, and the earliest time slot I could choose was 1pm to 2pm. One-hour ranges are the best anyone can do in Singapore now, though honestbee wants to eventually introduce 30-minute slots.”

    The startup is part of a rising class of “on-demand” services that aims to give you what you want, as soon as you want it. Uber pioneered the idea of using existing resources (idle private vehicles) and summoning them to anyone through an app. Instacart takes the same concept to groceries, and honestbee applies the same model to Singapore.