Entrepreneur loves solving problems

Chinese computer expert gives up bank job to start UK companies that help individuals and businesses resolve logistics and export issues

For Eric Wang, entrepreneurship is not like winning a heroic battle. It is more like providing a simple solution to other people's pressing problems, and making them happy.

"I love seeing the happiness my clients feel when they realize such a simple solution can address their concerns so perfectly. It's like suddenly realizing that using a pen to write on paper will produce words," says Wang, the 31-year-old Chinese co-founder of the UK logistics firm 51Parcel.

Eric Wang says he likes the strategic planning and flexibility his logistics career offers. Cecily Liu / China Daily

Since its founding in December 2012, 51Parcel has grown to employ more than 70 workers across six offices in the UK, China and Canada.

Their idea for improving package delivery is simple. The key is software that allows clients to input the dimensions, destination and other requirements of their parcel. Quickly, they receive a detailed comparison of the costs, delivery times, insurance and other service details of each of the major logistics companies so they can make informed choices about which to use.

51Parcel has also created many collection points for clients to deposit their parcels, so they do not need to wait at home for collection. These franchised collection points are mostly in restaurants, cafes, grocery shops and other public locations.

The whole process of matching senders and receivers and making payments is done online. Altogether this saves about a day compared with the more traditional process of Chinese parcel service firms when they complete these steps manually.

By teaming up with leading delivery firms like ParcelForce, DHL, TNT, UPS and EMS, the company can get special discount rates for its customers. It has also developed a mobile app for customers to track their parcel's progress just by scanning the delivery receipt's barcode.

The idea of a comparative service seems simple enough, but Wang was first to come up with it in the UK market, and it all originated with a frustrating experience he had trying to send a Christmas gift to his parents in China.

"When I sent my Christmas gift, it was so slow that my parents received it around the following year's Chinese New Year. So I did some research by talking to the various Chinese parcel delivery service firms in London, understanding their services and challenges, and found a market gap."

Although many Chinese companies already could help clients deliver parcels through established British delivery firms with discounts, they lacked a systematic way to help clients compare between different delivery firms.

Instead, when a Chinese client calls a logistics company, the operator recommends a particular delivery firm based on his or her personal opinion and experience. Calling the same company and speaking to three different operators could produce three different answers.

Wang used his computer science background to create software that allows standard comparisons between companies, so customers can make more informed decisions. For instance, if they need to have a parcel delivered during busy times like around Christmas, they are more likely to choose a delivery firm that emphasizes reliable and timely service.

Wang, born in Nanchang in Jiangxi province, came to the UK to study 15 years ago. Having completed an undergraduate degree in computer science at Warwick University and a master's degree in advanced computer studies at Imperial College London, he joined the investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort, later acquired by Commerzbank AG.

He started in the bank's IT department, and then moved on to creating software for foreign exchange trading, allowing trades to be executed in a more efficient manner.

Aside from his day job at the bank, he started setting up his own business. In 2010, he created a website to help UK customers purchase Chinese products.

"I came up with the idea because I realized many of my Chinese friends are frustrated that they cannot buy certain day-to-day Chinese products in the UK, and my Western friends are also keen to buy some Chinese items, so I tried to address this need," he says.

The products were mostly small items such as Chinese clay figures or colorful fans. The business had three full-time workers and one part-time worker, and its success allowed Wang to sell it.

It was Wang's first attempt at entrepreneurship and he says that looking back, he believes it was really more successful than he had thought. It also gave him some understanding of the delivery industry, paving the way for 51Parcel.

Wang recalls one day he was chatting to a regional manager at Parcelforce. "I said, wouldn't it be a good idea to have a streamlined online automatic service for taking Chinese clients' parcel delivery orders, and upon hearing me describe my vision, the regional manager said that's a good idea."

He turned his vision into reality with his business partner Liu Chao, a British-Chinese entrepreneur who also had extensive experience in the logistics industry.

After the two friends made 51Parcel successful, they decided that the company needed more consistent oversight for solid growth over the long term, so they appointed a chief executive to handle the company's day-to-day affairs.

They decided to dedicate their time to a new challenge. In October 2014 they teamed up with James Hardy, the former Europe, Middle East and Africa director of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, to establish an e-commerce business they named Avenue51.

Wang recalls meeting Hardy at a trade fair and they realized they had many common ideas and visions. "We both believed that our world is in the process of rapid globalization, and any customer should have the ability to purchase any item from anywhere in the world, so we want to create way to make this vision accessible," he says.

Avenue51 mainly helps British businesses export to China by providing them with a whole chain of business support, including help with building websites tailored for the Chinese market, payment and logistics services, after-sale customer services and marketing in China.

It allows Chinese retail customers to make their payment through Chinese payment services such as Alipay and UnionPay. Few Chinese customers use international payment systems like Visa and MasterCard.

Avenue51 then uses 51Parcel to give the British exporters advice about which delivery provider offers the best service for them. After the products are sold, Avenue51's subsidiary in Beijing and representative office in Hangzhou then provides Chinese customers with after-sales service and support.

Because Avenue51's staff includes both Chinese and Westerners, it can also efficiently translate British brands' messages in a way that Chinese customers can understand, effectively helping them to market their brands to Chinese consumers.

In addition to working with individual brands, Avenue51 also helps support a Tmall shop in China hosted by Royal Mail, which sells British brands. Tmall is an online platform operated by Alibaba Group, which allows sellers to set up their own online business-to-consumer web pages.

"I feel very happy to help British brands enter the Chinese market, because although they all know the size of China's economy, they do not know the best route to enter this market. So by solving their problem, we have also created a successful business for ourselves."

Outside of work, Wang says he tries to make the most of life. "What I enjoy the most is having a relaxing conversation with good friends over some delicious food or good wine," he says, adding that his other hobbies include golf, basketball and table tennis.

Looking back at his entrepreneurial career, he says that it occurred naturally, as if decisions were being made for him.

"When I was doing my full-time banking job and working on my first business everyday after I went home, I very often worked past midnight and then had to go to work again early the next morning. I reached the point where I had to choose just one job," Wang says.

It was a hard decision, he says, but he chose the entrepreneurship route because he liked the strategic planning and flexibility such a career option offered.

"I greatly enjoyed my work at the bank, but the amount of strategic decision making I could exercise was limited. Working on my own business can offer that, and I felt it more rewarding," he says.

cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 09/11/2015 page28)