Case study · Traditional manufacturing
From a furniture shop in Foshanto customers across Southeast Asia
The owner kept a 1,500 m² showroom on an expensive lease. Each day's trade depended on whoever happened to walk past.
- I.
Every day the same
Locally he fought price wars year after year with rivals and with the shop next door. The days repeated themselves, and he slowly lost hope in his own business.
He tried livestream selling, the hottest channel in mainland China, but the traffic had to be bought at a heavy price, and the margins never covered the ads.
- II.
The buyers were there all along
In the shop, on livestreams or from a video seen by chance, customers often wanted furniture sent to their homes in Thailand or Malaysia. But ordering, export clearance, shipping, import declarations, delivery and installation formed a long chain, and many gave up.
Find a shipping company yourself? Quotes varied wildly, and delivery times and cargo protection rested on verbal promises and forum posts of doubtful truth.
- III.
Not one shop's problem
We visited many manufacturers across Foshan and heard the same story: customers were hard won, and furniture is not a small parcel. Liking a piece was easy; getting it home and installed was not.
- IV.
We joined up the whole chain
Working with the manufacturers, we first invested in or partnered with several struggling logistics and installation firms in Southeast Asia — close to failing, but with established supply chains and local know-how — and connected them to the group's freight forwarding.
Now the customer simply chooses a piece. We give a delivery window, and within it the furniture stands exactly where they want it at home, with no third party to chase. Every step can be tracked, and if anything goes wrong our own people fix it, with no arguments between shop and shipper.
- V.
He no longer needs the big showroom
Most striking of all, he no longer needs the expensive 1,500 m² showroom. With a third of the old space, the manufacturing and supply-chain skills he always had, and a 30 m² office, he now sells across Southeast Asia.
For us it was a transformation of our own, and the same chain keeps opening new local opportunities.
This is the kind of supply chain we like: customers have nothing to worry about, makers focus on the product, and problems are ours to solve. If your industry is stuck on that first hard step, we would love to hear from you.