OnPoint bringing expertise in new e-commerce phase

Tran Vu Quang, CEO of end-to-end e-commerce solutions provider OnPoint

OnPoint has mobilised $8 million in its Series A funding round. What has helped the company in convincing investors to fork out such a significant amount?

First of all, the investors clearly see the potential of e-commerce enablers in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. According to the e-Conomy 2019 report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, Vietnam will be the second-largest and fastest-growing e-commerce market in Southeast Asia from 2019-2025.

E-commerce enabling is complimentary for the rapid growth of e-commerce, and is a sustainable business model which is attractive to investors given the changing appetite in the investment landscape in the past 6-12 months.

Second, OnPoint has shown a strong growth track record since our foundation. After three years, our clients are some of the biggest names in each product category such as L’Oreal, Shiseido, P&G, Rohto, Beiersdorf, Unilever International, Watsons, Unicharm, Kimberly-Clark, CJ Group, Mango, Bosch, and many more.

Third, we have a high-caliber team with a unique combination of experience in retail, e-commerce, brands, and management consulting. The founders are ex-McKinsey and former C-level of Lazada. Joining them on the board are industry veterans with decades of top-management experience at global firms involved in fast-moving consumer goods. And among the team members are people who previously held key positions at top e-commerce firms like Lazada, Shopee, Tiki, and Lotte.

Fourth, our solutions and services are standardised, tech-enabled, and developed to be scalable.

Finally, our governance set-up is transparent and trustworthy for investors. We hired top law firms like Allen Linklaters and Allen & Gledhill to be our legal advisors, and KPMG to be our financial advisor for the series A funding round.

Given the recent stronger push from businesses to switch from offline to online, we are at the right position and right timing to build a fast-growing scalable business in the next few years.

How do OnPoint’s services improve the effectiveness of retailers?

We provide services to both brands and retailers. The core values that we bring to our clients are expertise, convenience, and efficiency.

Our team has experience and expertise in growing brands in specific categories such as health and beauty, fashion, or baby care. We understand the directions, technologies, and policies of each e-commerce channel and translate that into scalable working processes. We experimented a lot, learned fast, and quickly developed that into core knowledge to serve our clients.

E-commerce is a super fast-changing environment where marketplaces like Lazada, Shopee, and Tiki are frequently updating their features, technologies, and policies while new business models like GrabMart, VnShop, or influencer marketing constantly emerge. In this context, OnPoint expertise also means our clients are always up to date with the latest market trends and can capture growth opportunities at the right timing.

E-commerce is also an operationally complex business where it is crucial to smoothly co-ordinate fragmented factors. Our one-stop solution conveniently helps brands simplify the working process with various stakeholders like marketplaces, and service providers such as business process outsourcing companies, marketing agencies, fulfillment third-party logistics (3PL) groups, and last-mile delivery 3PLs.

As OnPoint serves the top brands and thoroughly understands their needs, we invest in the right team and right technologies that have economies of scale and drive down operating cost in the long run. Thus brands with their businesses run by OnPoint will attain more efficiency and lower risk than sustaining an in-house e-commerce team or investing in tech solutions at their own cost.

On which online retail channels are OnPoint’s services available, and with the cutthroat competition in e-commerce, who will prevail?

We help brands cover all e-commerce channels, from mainstream marketplaces Lazada, Shopee, Tiki, and Sendo to emerging players like GrabMart and Lozi as well as social media channels like Facebook, online influencers, and brands’ own websites.

In the long run, consumers and businesses are winning. The competition among marketplaces is driving innovation, enables businesses to adopt digital commerce faster, and enables a more convenient online shopping experience for shoppers. The marketplaces that can predict, create, capture the trends, and create the most value to brands, sellers, and consumers will stand to gain their market share.

The difficult first quarter has been herding customers towards e-commerce. How has business improved during this time and will this change last?

We have seen a surge in client contacts from a variety of sectors like fashion, baby formula, food and beverages, and more focus even from existing clients online. Brand e-commerce is not a short-term craze but is already a remarkable trend over the last 2-3 years. The current situation only puts more pressure on businesses to hasten their progress from offline to online.

It is also our responsibility with society and our partners to create value in the most challenging times. OnPoint will continue to serve even when others are neither technologically nor operationally enabled to do so. We shall play our part, no matter how big or small, to serve our community, society, and the country.

We envision our new role of e-commerce enabler in the world post-pandemic, with a new business model, new supply chain model, new operation and partnership model, and will witness how categories may develop.

OnPoint has revised its strategy, grasped client needs, revised our offerings, will invest heavily to stay ahead of the curve, and will be ready for growth and scalability in a highly uncertain future.