Bridging Borders Between China and International Markets using Logistics with Josh Ruskin of SF Express

Michael MicheliniBusiness, Ecommerce, Podcast0 Comments


Happy 2018! This is our first podcast for the new year – and we are bringing you the good stuff as always. This week, we bring to you Josh Ruskin, from SF Express. I first met him in 2016 at our first Cross Border Summit and it was a pleasure to get to know him. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge on logistics and cross-border e-commerce into China as well as outside. We even slipped in some examples of companies doing great things importing into China.

Thank you, Josh and SF Express for coming on the show and supporting. Also, appreciate your support for our Global From Asia events at the Cross Border Summit and our past Cross Border Matchmaker event. This is what it is all about, educating the community to help us all have a better chance at finding success in cross border business and building our global empires, now without further ado, let’s get onto the podcast interview w/ Josh Ruskin.

Also our GFA VIP members were able to enjoy the video version of this quite a bit earlier than this show’s release. If you are serious about growing your global business between China and the overseas market, check out this benefit and more at our Global From Asia VIP membership here.

Topics Covered in this Episode

  • Intro Josh Ruskin

    Thanks Josh for coming on the show, you were a VIP attendee at our first Cross Border Summit back in 2016 and glad to have you on the show. So you’re with SF Express, a top logistics provider can you share a bit about your background and also SF Express.

  • Importance of Logistics in E-Commerce

    Ask any ecommerce seller and they’ll tell you shipping, customs, all that logistics stuff is such a headache! When should someone start to plan their logistics when building their e-commerce business?

  • Various components in the Logistics ecosystem

    When we break it down, there is quite a bit of different services available for an e-commerce seller. Many don’t even know so I think it would be helpful we go through the various “buckets” of what logistics services there are.

  • Balancing Cost and Quality of Service

    What are some factors business owners can consider when deciding how much to pay for their logistics and the quality of service. What are some ways they can choose the right services and service providers.

  • Business Size (Turnover) and Logistics Operations

    Is there some kind of a scale for what size a company is and what options they should be using in their logistics? Meaning – a budding new e-commerce business needs different logistics services from a scaling company. Can you give us some ideas of what those different services are for each stage?

  • Common Oversights Ecommerce Sellers Make

    What are some of the big mistakes ecommerce companies make in their logistics department?

  • Technology and Logistics - Match Made in Heaven

    I think one of the struggles for e-commerce sellers is the need to integrate logistics into their workflow. Because logistics is a more, traditional, type business with older technologies, it is often hard for businesses with online operations to integrate. Any options here, or where is the current status of technology intentions and logistics?

  • About SF Express

    Thanks so much Josh for sharing. Your company SF Express is a global logistics company, can you share with us a bit of the company history and values.

  • Connecting with you

    How can listeners connect with you and SF Express?

People / Companies / Resources Mentioned in this Episode

Show Sponsors:

Today’s podcast is brought to you by Aurelia Pay. I use them for sending money to my Chinese supplier from Hong Kong – it is a cross border payment solution between China, Hong Kong and South East Asia. So when I need to make a payment to a Chinese supplier, I just hop in to place a remittance, pay to their HK bank account, and Aurelia Pay settle RMB within the same business day! Check them out

Episode Length 40:23

Thanks Josh. Hope everyone enjoyed that. I know how painful logistics can be for e-commerce sellers – but it is so essential as well! From my various ecommerce businesses, it has always been so critical to make sure your logistics, from the supplier all the way down to the end consumer, is rock solid. No matter how good your e-commerce marketing and SEO skills are, if your product is delayed or lost in transit – your business won’t last the long term.

I wish you all the best in this new year, 2018. Let’s keep taking action and pushing the limits in our import and export businesses. Thanks so much for choosing to download and listen to this podcast.

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Podcast Transcription

“I think the more options that you could provide to your consumer the better. If you have a product that you know that are very, very hot seller. It’s not a bad idea to take advantage of the bonded facility.”

Welcome to the Global From Asia podcast where the daunting process of running an international business is broken down into straight up actionable advice and now your host, Michael Michelini.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by Aureliapay. I use it personally for sending money to my Chinese suppliers from Hong Kong. It’s a cross border payment solution between China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. So, if I need to make a payment to a Chinese supplier, I just hop online to place the remittance, pay to the Aureliapay Hong Kong based big account and Aureliapay will settle RMB within the same business day. So, check them out online at www.aureliapay.com  A U R E L I A P A Y .com or check them on their link at our show notes.

Mike: Happy New Year. Happy 2018 everybody. I’m in the midst of family meals and other things even I’m in China. It’s everybody, I mean the dates are the same anywhere in the world. And I have to apologize for last week. I don’t remove some of the F words in my interview and I quickly got noticed that me and my editor and my content producer are all missed that and I feel kind of embarrassed. I know that they’re talking about kids and my kid’s here and I know some people have kids listening. So we edited that as soon as we could. But if you download early and when it went live in episode 207 you’ve heard some of my more emotions in there. I told you guys it would be interesting interview with me and that was in a higher state. So anyway I apologize about that, a few people told me about it. But it will be edited going forward so I want it those first few days had it. And now let’s talk about this week’s show we’re getting quality up and the content back going. And we have episode 208 here www.globalfromasia.com/bridging-borders/. Josh Ruskin from SF Express, Shun Fong one of the top courier companies in China. I know in Shenzhen, I’ve always recognize their brand since I first come here in 2007, I remember SF Express deliveries. A lot of times per packages overnight deliveries anything really important. So it’s great to have him here. He was in our first Cross Border Summit 2016 and he was also supporting us at the Cross Border Matchmaker and been doing amazing things for the Cross Border E-commerce industry here. They focus on importing into China as they have their network here but they also have overseas logistics as well. So I know it’s very important to have your logistics partner correctly setup when you’re in in e-commerce business or in trading or import/export. I know a lot of our listeners are always asking for more logistics content. So, Josh give us a great overview of tough processes as you start in growing your e-commerce business and also some of the ideas of why things are the way there are. So without further adieu, let’s check it out and always we have the show notes at www.globalfromasia.com/bridging-borders/. Let’s tune in and now I have time go back to my kids.

Mike: Tuning in to another Global From Asia podcast. We have with us a friend I met couple of years ago. Our first  Cross Border Summit Josh Ruskin. Thanks for being here Josh.

Josh: Thanks for having me Mike.

Mike: Yeah, it’s great and we’re both Americans and we’re recording on Thanksgiving Day. Of course this won’t be live on Thanksgiving but Happy Holidays to you and everyone listening. Sounds great. It’s always a weird feeling being, well I guess outside anybody’s home country but we’re Americans overseas or in China there’s go sings of Thanksgiving here. So it’s great to have you on the show and get to share a lot of knowledge about logistics cross border in and out of China. So the topic we have is Bridging Borders between China and international markets and maybe you can quickly introduce yourself for the listeners Josh.

Josh: Yeah, no problem, Mike. So my name is Josh Ruskin. I currently work for SF Express which is a leading express logistics provider. Originally predominantly in the China market. But we expanded overseas which I’ll talk about. And so right now under their international business unit basically focus on overseas expansion. I’m leading our business solutions team so it’s both a role of business development as well as helping to build customized solutions for key e-commerce customers. And I started with SF actually in 2013, just a couple of years after we entered the US market. I started on our US team when we’re very small. And based on the way things are going with the world and the market especially with China market. We found a lot of success helping overseas e-commerce players actually enter the China market with the end to end type solution. It’s more than just transportation so that’s what I wanted to talk about today in both directions, both into China as well as its outbounds.

Mike: Exciting. Yeah it’s true I mean even the name of the show this podcast turn also in 2013 and it’s also about that similar idea of global know China as and Asia has been going international. So it’s definitely a trend it’s growing and also for those at least people in China definitely know you guys. I mean basically why leading courier, right? Like everybody has SF documents and it’s one of the most popular shipping method like we send samples a lot of times for products samples in factories in China stuff anything’s SF always. It’s very fast and reliable service. So of course, we’re talking about e-commerce and shipping like say cover in and out inside China. Of course it’s so important I think a lot of e-commerce sellers are always say that one of big pain points is logistics and making sure the supply chain is under control. When do you think sellers or e-commerce business should start to plan or how could they plan their logistics.

Josh: Yeah, just like you have mentioned, of course from people launching the e-commerce business. They focuses on e-commerce and building a site and sourcing the product and logistics does play a major role in that. Especially in terms of customer experience.  And so we found a few things depending on the size of your company and the model that you’re trying to set up of course we hope that you would consider providing various logistics options that you don’t put all your bags in one basket and planning it’s keeps. So when we set up with the new customer we first go through like a due diligence process, we see what’s their business model, what are they trying to accomplish, what are some of the problems that they have today and whether you’re working with us for another company I’m hoping that’s a conversation that you can have maybe 2 to 4 weeks in advance before launch depending on the complexity of what we’re trying to do. And even before launch, we’ll also do some sort of trials. Make sure that the logistics service is up to the standard of what you’re looking for and considering how the balance of price and service play into that. So again I would say that think about if you go to the supermarket and be buying something. Of course if the supermarket is there and the products are there and the check out is there and everything straight that’s fine but if you don’t have a car or the means to get there and bring the products back to your home, you don’t have any business.

Mike: That’s true.

Josh: So, especially in e-commerce logistics plays a huge role in that.

Mike: Sure. So you were saying earlier that your company and other is probably more than just logistics or maybe I know people sometimes get overwhelmed or they just kind of like think what is always different parts of the process and maybe since we’re talking about export and import, things are some differences.

Josh: Right. Okay so the traditionally when people think of logistics, sometimes they just think of transportation. And they think that it’s very simple. And sometimes they don’t even realize how important of a role that place on both of their suppliers and their customers. In terms of brand and reputation. That’s a separate topic but logistics is turning into more than just transportation also including customized valued added services from check out, from the point of check out even cross border payment can be included in logistics services. SF for example, we’ve developed a whole team with our automization just to focus on finance and apart of that is managing this cross border transaction problem from the time of check out and in cross border e-commerce through delivery. So I can walk you through from check out of course there’s payment and managing what transportation solution is best for that product, what the customers are looking for. Including pick up, export clearance from the country of origin, okay? International line or international flights. And then customs clearance as you mentioned. I would say that’s one of the biggest keys especially for cross border. Managing that customs clearance process proactively, ensuring that it’s stable and ensuring that there’s flexibility. I can talk about the China market for example in terms of import. There are rules and laws or process be changing. And so you have to make sure that you’re working with the company and talk on top of that. And I think each country has their own laws as well. So it can get very complicated but that’s definitely the key. How do we manage the risk and the problem follow-up in proactive communication and document collection to ensure that there’s a smooth customs clearance process. After customs clearance you would hope that your provider could handle final mile delivery whether its direct to your consumer or maybe to a third party warehouse like Amazon or separate company that’s managing that or the logistics company that you worked with that provide like, I think it’s called MFN service for businesses like Amazon as well. In terms of value added services, I mentioned before originally we just thought of logistics as transportation, right. But their value added services that you could expect from the logistics provider even SF Express which might be just an express company in terms of quality inspection so you wanna inspect your product. We have a service for example to manage returns if your customer received the product and they weren’t happy with it. You could protection return it to our warehouse. We have experts even if its electronic products, cellphones, inspect what’s wrong, potentially fix it and send it back to the customer or manage that return. So that would be an example of value added service, repacking, consolidation, there are various methods to ensure that, not only your shipping cost is low but also that your duties and taxes remain low. I think there’s a combination of insurance that you balance logistics fees, shipping fees as well as duties and tax depending on for example the size of your shipment or how much can you pack into 1 box depending on the country, depending on the rules. There are ways to maximize that to your benefit. So we’ve done things inserting materials into a box for promotional purposes that’s something our customers are looking for, warehouse management, and making, ensuring that the collection of documents for customs clearance can have it smoothly. For example, WeChat is a tool where a lot of Chinese people use. How can we leverage that to proactively collect documentation maybe with the e-signature or getting some form of identification online into your phone. Instead of the traditional method which was receiving a phone call and having that box some sort of signed document of import clearance. So again that’s complicated, it’s different from import and export but they key is, it’s more than just trucking or putting a shipment on the plane. There are various other levels of service that you should, at least you know what’s out there, to ensure that your customer receives the best service, right or the best customer experience.

Mike: Got it. Yeah there’s so much to, I know it’s quite hard to fit it into 1 show. But the idea, you kind of let into adhere but you’re hinting towards, it’s more than just a cost of the shipping, right, you’re saying though.

Josh: Right.

Mike: There’s the customs clearance time, of course keeping the customer happy, tracking numbers that actually give some information about what’s happening.

Josh: Right, packing is key definitely.

Mike: So I don’t know if you wanna share some kind of different variables people can look at when deciding price.

Josh: Yeah so I think depending on the business model, so there are different models that people would be looking for one is the shipping direct to consumer, okay. And in this space everyone wants to keep the shipping, they don’t want pay duties and taxes, and they want highest level of customer service, full tracking trace, they want know exactly what’s going on every step of the way. And unfortunately that’s very difficult to provide, right. But there are ways like I mentioned to minimize the risk and provide stable end to end service with high tracking trace so for example SF provides one airway bill door to door. The customer can go online whether its through online whether its through an app, whether it’s through our online tracking system and they can see exactly whether shipment is every step of the way including customer service. And other companies do that, there are some companies that are like consolidators whether pulling different logistics solutions combined them into one. And so what they have to do is full tracking advance from different service providers every step of the way and then provide that to their customer and that can become complicated they might not be as efficient as possible. So whether you’re looking for provider that’s a key point is from your customer experience and what’s the easiest thing and I would say finding one solution, end to end full tracking trace that one service provider would be the ideal way to go. In terms of customs clearance and duties and taxes, one thing I wanted to mention was every country is different, some countries distinguish between B2C or e-commerce direct to consumer type personal shipments, versus B2B which is the traditional method of shipping. For example China on April 8 the 2016 officially launch a new customs clearance rule import that says if you order buying something from overseas through e-commerce and the value is below 2,000 RMB per shipment and you can provide an ID copy or actually ID number, you received certain duties and tax benefits, because this is personal side ship. Whereas your shipping B2B, you’ll gonna receive a 17% value added tax as well as duties on top of that. So it’s a way that the government distinguishes between B2B and B2C. So that’s something to look into posts, you’re focus on e-commerce there are ways to gain doing tax benefits throughout the web. In the US for example they don’t distinguish between the 2, it’s very simple they say, it’s simply based on the value of the shipment. And so again there are various ways to ensure that you’re paying the lowest duties and taxes as possible, while still paying now.

Mike: Got it.

Josh: I don’t know if I can answer that question completely.

Mike: I think it’s good. I mean I think we could also define, like the new policies well not some new now, but yeah April 2016. That’s actually I wander we had a conference that was going out and a lot, I was curious about cross border and to China e-commerce B2C and then there’s also this free trade zones that has involved, I don’t know if it’s a factor. I mean I guess cross border into China B2C doesn’t really utilize or does it.

Josh: Yeah so right so you can look at into 2 ways depending on the business model, you can either send directly from the overseas supplier, all the way to their consignee or the buyer in China and that would still go through the cross border B2C in China. Or you can store your SKUs in a bonded facility that’s in China so that assumes the customer places the order maybe it’s on China’s platform or overseas platform. It’s fulfilled and sent within 1 or 2 days. The benefit is really faster transit time. One of them would originate at the border in China and 1 would originate overseas. But in terms of duties and tax and track and trace is very similar. Now one thing I would like to mention is a lot of people think that you need to store your shipment, SKUs in a bonded facility to the cross border e-commerce to China. And that’s absolutely not true in fact Chinese consumer there are some value in the Chinese consumers seeing that the shipment originated from overseas. It’s a bit of a trust issue in China. When the Chinese person goes to a store and walk into a store and buy something especially a consumable product whether it’s for your kid, you’re not a 100% sure where it came from. And that can be scary, especially for mother’s prenatal supplements and things like that. And so, I would say that the average consumer that is in the market study is willing to wait a few extra days to ensure that the shipment originated overseas on the time they place the order instead of originating in a bonded warehouse. Now, that doesn’t mean that if you have a booming business that it’s not beneficial to have some hot selling items that are in China that can be delivered within 1 or 2 days. But it’s not the only way to do it, I would say.

Mike: Agree, yeah it’s funny like I’m a parent here and I’m often carrying hand stuff over from Hong Kong like, either powder or more popular posts on my social media. It’s funny but it’s almost kind of true. Like, this kind give our listener an idea, right. Like bonded warehouse is a free trade zones that are tax free and they come from overseas and then you said like waiting until somebody buys it and then ship fast. But still like you said Chinese have this huge trust issue.

Josh: Right. Well there are few cases where you think it’s coming from a bonded warehouse but really it’s a fake counterfeit product, right.

Mike: Oh no, horrible.

Josh: That’s where the brand reputation of the logistics company could play a big factor as well. I think Chinese consumers are very sensitive to that. And so we found success where just by seeing a brand that they recognize and trust. They are trying to purchase.

Mike: Yeah, that make sense. Like I said earlier you guys do really have a good brand in China. So, when something comes at the door that is SF Express you guys have usually uniforms that are very professional. So people can trust it, like that’s crazy I hear that before. It can happen at logistics center or maybe warehouse or the shipping could be swapping the goods, that’s pretty wild. There’s always stories, anything is possible here seems in China.

Josh: And I think that China is moving in the direction away from that. But unfortunately the reality is that it still exist.

Mike: So we kind of, I was trying to move to next question naturally, the next topic is the size or turnover of the company, e-commerce company and maybe the type of logistic solutions that they should use. I think of course, like we did hint towards the free trade zone, like hot selling products maybe inside either free trade zone or even inside of China cleared ready. Is there some kind of system or formula do you think might could generate.

Josh: I don’t think there’s a formula, I think each company, each situation is a bit different. One thing I do wanna mention is that for people that are maybe just starting don’t have a lot of volume. There’s this impression that if your volume is low for e-commerce you can’t negotiate reasonable rate per shipment. and today e-commerce is booming I think that at least we see that there could be potential and a new startup through e-commerce maybe they don’t have a booming business today, most say hey for a certain period of time we’re willing to go work with you and try to keep your logistic solution, I’m not gonna say cheap but maybe cheaper than what would you expect okay if your bond is very low. Because if you can grow, we can grow. And one of our core values is this double win. And so whatever provide you’re talking to I would urge you to show them your 2 year plan or your growth plan, your 6 month plan, right. And if they have fate that there’s opportunity to grow with you that’s a benefit for both companies. I think that will give you some benefit.

Mike: Make sense.

Josh: That’s one thing in terms of the rates and you mentioned when you’re just starting you don’t necessarily need to take advantage of overseas warehouse model. If you don’t know what items are hot sellers yet, it’s okay. Especially at e-commerce we find the consumers are willing to wait maybe 7 to 10 days, maybe a little less as long as the service is stable, the customer service is reliable. You can send directly from your supplier to your end consignee.

Mike: Okay, make sense. And then would you, on the import side, then there’s bonded warehouse. I’ve had people asked me to was like, there’s speed and quality, should they keep maybe multiple stock like in different supply chain or speed or even options so the buyer could.

Josh: Of course, the more options you could provide to your consumer the better. They like options, I would say that if you have a product that you know is a very, very hot seller. It’s not a bad idea to take advantage of the bonded facility for those SKUs. If that ensures the fastest lead time. If you can give the customer the option of also selling those directly from the country, you could do that, too. But again, there’s that lead time and cost can be a bit better if you the closer you get to your consumer. But then there’s the issue of trust. So really depends on the product. If you’re selling milk powder or something for baby, health supplements. It doesn’t necessarily need to be store in a bonded warehouse. ‘Cause I mentioned before there’s some value in sending directly from overseas but if it’s a product or something that you’re wearing, of course you care about the quality. You made benefit from storing it in the bonded facility. But then again they’re charges storage fees, fulfillment fees, if you’re just starting out the key point is it’s okay if you’re sending directly from your supplier from your own warehouse overseas it’s very common today especially for companies that are starting. Even companies, we have customers shipping thousands and thousands of shipments a day that don’t take advantage at all. This is all the purpose of e-commerce to China. Thousands of shipments a day and they don’t take advantage at all of the bonded warehouse. So that’s not the only route to take, right?

Mike: Okay, so technology I know e-commerce sellers always love in a creations, in a streamlining. So I noticed and there’s so many for shopping carts and solution maybe we could give people some ideas of some online integrations or solutions for streamlining.

Josh: So something for e-commerce especially coming into China is we try to, depending on what the customer is looking for. We can do anything from providing you with the software that is totally separate from your existing platform with no API or what kind of interface exchange. So full robust, real time and that includes the passing of information, tracking, collecting customer information in real time. Something that we’re doing today is were integrating directly with customs so that at the time the order is place it’s pass from e-commerce platform to us, okay? The payment is integrated directly into customs as well. So that when the shipment arrives at the customs gateway there’s no need for this 2 day clearance time and inspection because customs already knows what’s coming. It’s like a pre-registration process. And that’s all done through electronic data exchange and a pre-robust integration. So that’s something that I hope e-commerce companies whether you’re just starting, or you’re already have business into China that you would look into this option. It’s pretty powerful to ensure that you’re end to end, door to door solution is stable especially that customs clearance part. When it comes to duties and taxes we hope that during the checkout process you can collect those duties and taxes in advanced, okay. And work with your logistics provider to come up with the way with their billing you, after the, monthly or weekly basis. Again it’s all about customer experience, the more that you can do upfront, and through applications or through your website, including logistics, collecting this documentation, captivate duties and taxes, the better.

Mike: Totally awesome. I will try to also reiterate just people make sure they got it was basically we get listeners or readers of the show or blog contacting us and they are thinking a lot of Chinese customers buying from the websites naturally, finding them even an English language and buying and they wanna try to grow that more. So, I think, ‘coz 1 of the big questions will the buyer get this big surprise tax bill to collect their goods so you could also offer solution where the Chinese buyer would know what their taxes will be paying and then you or logistics company could also collect that and also the seller pays, so that e-commerce company pays that to the Chinese customer just gets the goods deliver without any unknown taxes that could be charged to them when they get it.

Josh: Exactly. And one more thing I wanna mention is, we’re SF Express which traditionally an express company. But in recent years we’ve shifted actually our name has been change into focus on technology. Right now our headquarters in Shenzhen is in tech part. We’re not like your traditional old school logistics player. We have a massive IT Team, I think right now it’s from 2,000 IT professionals and that’s growing. And we’re getting into drawn technology as well as the final mile delivery. All integrated through cellphone, real time tracking trace, these are the things that customers are looking for today as well as payment. So you’ll see it shift, especially when you’re trying to find a provider for e-commerce, I think it’s important to look for a company that is moving in that IT direction.

Mike: Yeah, I totally agree. I mean it’s definitely a smart move as far as investment and as far as I’m concerned. So yeah, you’re just mentioning a little bit. Let’s talk about SF Express a little bit. It’s a Shenzhen based company here, we’re both are. It’s going global now and maybe you could share a little bit about the business.

Josh: Yes, so we started in 1993, it actually started as cross border logistics hand carry service between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in Guangdong. Our current CEO, he actually, I believed the initial market cap is around 36 billion US dollars. So that happens very recently until then it was privately owned by our current CEO, he’s a reputable businessman Chinese in the world actually. We became one of the leaders if not the leader in terms of express logistics around China. We pride ourselves on having most widespread network of delivery coverage in China. We’re really focus on mastering that customer experience and final mile delivery solution. So we’re built on our delivery man, we actually don’t call them delivery man, we call them business associates, their response grow the business. And they have ownership on that. And I think we’ve been very successful at expanding relatively quickly over 25 years. Now, those elf trucks everywhere in Shenzhen but even if you’re random remote village in Western China, you’ll see SF vehicles, service station, and people delivering packages. So it’s a pretty cool feeling. In 2010 we started to explain globally and so we don’t have at this point, we don’t have the same brand recognition overseas as we do in China but we’re getting there. Especially on cross border e-commerce for customers that are targeting Chinese consumers. So one thing I wanted to mention there, I think an overseas e-commerce brand they have some names that stick out when I want to find logistic provider. Those are the companies that I would be most comfortable working on the e-commerce website. And to be honest, I’ve been coming to China since 1998 actually but I wasn’t very familiar with SF Express until recently when they have more press and tips. People overseas don’t necessarily know that there’s a leader in a country with such reputable brand. And so if you’re an overseas e-commerce website targeting the specific market, definitely look into who can you partner with that’s gonna provide a logistic solution to those consumers. It’s not necessarily the company that you think. And it doesn’t mean in the degree that they’re not. So now, we ran 200 countries, regions throughout the world. We have our own delivery network in various countries in Southeast Asia and major cities within the US as well. And we’ve also partnered with some of the top service providers specializing in different regions. So it’s been excited. We’ve grown a lot and if you don’t know much about us, I urge you to look us up online www.sf-express.com and you can read about our international expansion as well.

Mike: Great, yeah we’ll link it up on the show notes, in the blog as well. Thanks a lot. So we talked a lot about importing cross border and maybe we could just let people know what type of services, listeners would be best, suited for your services or you can do both.

Josh: Yeah so we do both. And so, we’re trying not to sell just service which traditionally known as transit time. So you’ll say oh priority service is 3 to 4 days, economy service is 7 to 10 days, we’re more focus on end to end total solution for e-commerce and that’s coming into China. And with that you will get door to door transportation, smooth customs clearance. If you want to go through that automized pre-registration process with customs, we can walk you through that and hope you will go through the steps involved to make that happen. If you don’t want to do that, we have other solutions as well that don’t require as much as IT work so that’s coming into China and I would say that’s focus on e-commerce. Right now we say around 7 to 10 days door to door transit time, if you do go through the more robust integration with customs, we can get it around 5 days door to door. But then it depends on your product and how much it involves. For export, we’ve also been very successful helping customers that are sending to Amazon to the Amazon FBA program. In 2018, we’re really focusing on how can we improve that service provide the best valued added services to our customers in terms of quality assurance and making sure that you’re saving cost and then you’re not receiving unexpected hiccups when it comes to connecting with Amazon’s program. That’s a trend in the past few years. So we’re definitely taking advantage of that and I just spent a lot of time talking about China inbound but if you’re interested in China outbound especially through Amazon or other platforms, we do provide area service overseas warehouse management as well.

Mike: Awesome. Yeah and I think one big case you guys talked about it at the Cross Border Matchmaker last month. I’m thinking to talk about that a little bit, the case study.

Josh: So I heard this, one of the leading e-commerce health supplement companies in the US and they ship all over the world and in recent years they proceed a lot attraction] in the China market. And something that I think they did that made them successful number 1 is set up a website in Chinese. Most companies start with an English version but once the transition, the language, the payment capabilities, if you can accept Unionpay, WeChat pay, that’s very powerful for Chinese consumers. They even got to the point where they set up an entity in China and have a team here for customer service. So they were very, very successful at that which in tremendous growth with them. And again helps supplements is one of those products the Chinese consumers valued time from overseas. They can ensure quality is on time. So, I heard in similar companies  as the Chinese customs rules have changed, we remained flexible. We have various gateways that we clear through so if especially on April 8, many companies panic because they had all their shipments stored in a bonded facility and they got shut down with the duties and tax brackets change and they couldn’t figure out how to fulfill their orders. Certain logistics company either disappear, many e-commerce players also were affected by that. In our case, we were able to manage that within 1 or 2 days, shift everything to an alternative gateway through an alternative clearance model. It still maintained relative law duties and taxes for their customers. We helped collect proper documentation that was required for those changes to happen. It’s been pretty interesting.

Mike: Awesome. Well Josh it’s been  a great interview with you. Thanks again for sharing  and so as you said people interested www.sf-express.com. Is there other ways? Is that the best way to contact with you?

Josh: Yeah, I can give you my personal email at my work email separately maybe you can put that on your notes as well.

Mike: Sure. I’ll put that in notes. Alright Josh thanks so much.

Josh: Thanks, Mike.

Mike: Thanks Josh for sharing and we talked about somethings that that were not often talk about online. I’m just here to share and be the host and thank you everybody. 2017 was a great year and lots of amazing things happening. We have Cross Border Summit coming up. Third Annual April 20th and 21st, 201 for this new year. Yeah my kids are excited so we’re all excited. Wendy’s working hard, we’re working hard talking to amazing people. Got early bird tickets sold from last year 2017. And I’m looking forward to seeing more of you guys there. Thanks for your support and I know it’s a trip over here. So if you’re not able to make it, we do have an online passes. We also have other ways to engage with Global From Asia here and the community. So keep on listening, keep on enjoying and I appreciate it. Sometimes we have some rough patches with the editing here but yeah kids are excited here. And we just keep going forward and I’m going in hard in 2018 and I hope you guys are, too. Thanks guys for listening, signing out. Take care.

To get more info, on running international business please visit our website at www.globalfromasia.com that’s www.globalfromasia.com. Also, be sure to subscribe to our iTunes feed. Thanks for tuning in.

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