Una Brands, a Singapore-based e-commerce aggregator, is aggressively expanding to new markets and one of their main focus is the Philippines.
But they faced three main challenges: (1) They had no team on the ground that would help with the order fulfillment; (2) They had no resources like a warehouse and a local inventory management system; (3) There was uncertainty over whether the goods would be secure and handled professionally.
Isaac Ho, Una Brands international expansion lead, explains that while testing a new market, companies are usually ‘asset light’. “You cannot commit too much resources and you have to find an affordable way to do things.
“The mission was to bring the brands into the Philippines and try and make a market here. What Ninja Van provided was a very easy plug and play solution for warehousing and logistics,” he shares.
Building global brands
Una Brands specializes in acquiring and growing existing consumer brands. It acts as a growth partner for the brands they acquire, providing them with ecommerce and logistics muscle.
Under the company, these brands are able to reach a wider audience, improve operational efficiency, and ultimately scale up. The original owners have the option to either sell the startup outright or become a partner in further building the business.
Una Brands is now a leading multi-channel e-commerce aggregator across Asia Pacific (APAC), with offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, India, China and soon the Philippines.
Ninja Fulfillment’s plug and play logistics solutions
While still relatively new to the Philippine market (they started in January 2024), Una Brands immediately sets its roots and is on track to increase its inventory to offer more brands to Filipino consumers. How did they do it this fast? By partnering with Ninja Fulfillment.
Ninja Fulfillment provided the company with end-to-end warehousing and fulfillment solutions, which addressed their challenges and allowed them to start local operations in no time.
“It was a quick plug and play solution. The onboarding process was a breeze,” Isaac says.
“We didn’t need to have our own warehouse. We didn’t need to recruit our own team. Ninja Fulfillment has a team and the facilities in place. When we were figuring out how to do things, it really helped that the Ninja team was responsive, professional and they knew their stuff.”
For Isaac and Una Brands, the benefits of a long-term partnership with Ninja Fulfillment are clear:
1. If your business is picking up, you can scale up your business easily when you have a partner that can do that alongside you.
2. You don’t have to acquire a new team, train new people. Ninja Van is there with you to scale up when you have more orders. You don’t have to acquire a new warehouse.
3. Ninja Van has nationwide coverage. That means almost the whole of the Philippines is your potential market.
“Working with you guys helps us focus on the business. (With Ninja Van) you have a reliable partner meaning you can focus on your business’s core competencies, whatever it might be. And in our case, it’s definitely not logistics, right?”
Read more about how Ninja Fulfillment helped Una Brands expand to the Philippines from our Case Study.
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