Held at Cyberport, the e-commerce Jumpstarter semi-pitch event saw twelve teams pitching for glory representing start-ups whose mission is to grow e-commerce in Hong Kong by improving communication, connectivity and, crucially, the customer experience.
As residents of a retail mecca, Hongkongers are experts in the art of shopping. We know how to find a bargain, comparison shop and pry crucial product information out of shopkeepers. But the world of shopping is changing rapidly, and if we Hong Kong is to stay on top of our game, we need to keep pace with these changes.
At the event, the seven judges were looking at four different criteria: innovation, relevance to Hong Kong, the market potential of the start-ups and the background of their teams. The three teams with the highest scores in all four categories were selected to move on to November’s Jumpstarter grand finale.
Each of the three selected teams, as well as the winners of the Most Innovative and Most Favourable awards, showcased unique and innovative ways of keeping customers happy.
Wee Creation’s OpenVR.shop provides a new take on online shopping for both shop owners and customers. The company’s philosophy, according to founder Keith Lee King Fung, is that people should “enjoy shopping, not searching”. Their idea is to create virtual reality shops allowing shop owners with no e-commerce experience to set up a 24-hour virtual reality branch of their store, giving their customers an immersive and realistic shopping experience and creating an easy, cost-effective bridge between online and offline shopping.
Viewider Limited is a search and sales engine that aims to help enterprises quickly expand their global sales. As the “marketplace behind the global e-commerce marketplace”, Viewider uses a machine learning-based search engine to help merchants identify new opportunities in markets around the world and then connect them via various global marketplaces. This unique vision also won Viewider the Most Innovative award.
Rounding out the finalists, Boutir Limited aims to empower small merchants and individuals to set up their own online store quickly and easily through their mobile phones. Links to this smartphone-based “responsive storefront”, with its integrated payment and delivery services, can be distributed via social platforms and instant messaging services to create a network of purchasers and expand sales.
The Most Favourable award, chosen by the audience, was Kusdom Ltd., a C2B e-commerce company that lets consumers put their own designs on hundreds of diverse products like umbrellas, mugs and shower curtains, creating products that allow “everything to be customizable” – something which the audience strongly approved of.
OpenVR.shop, Viewider and Boutir will compete against the finalists from the other semi-pitch events at November’s final pitch event, where the three winning teams will each receive up to USD one million investment from Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund.
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Video of Jumpstarter 2017 E-Commerce Semi Pitch(6th)
Startup Pitch! (by the sequence of on-stage presentation)
Panel Feedback : Jumpstart & Beyond
Award Presentation : E-Commerce Semi Pitch
