the keys to the castle Driving the Asian beauty boom through e-commerce

DRIVING THE ASIAN BEAUTY BOOM THROUGH E-COMMERCE

Since it was established in 2006, YesStyle.com has been the leading online retailer for Asian brands worldwide. YesStyle is the first online retailer to globally distribute a wide range of Asian fashion and beauty products, and its sophisticated e-commerce platform is trusted by millions of clients around the world.

“Whilst many ecommerce companies in Hong Kong serve customers locally, YesStyle specialises in marketing and selling fashion and beauty products to customers globally. Most of our customers are located in overseas countries such as the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Spain,” said Joshua Lau, Founder and CEO of YesStyle.com.

Unique platform, peerless service

Over the past decade, YesStyle has been an invaluable partner for a great number of premium beauty brands. The platform promotes quality products from brands including COSRX, PURITO, MIZON, SOME BY MI, chuu and Dear Klairs, among others. At present, it is an authorised retailer of over 250 Korean cosmetic brands.

“A big proportion of our customers are typically into Asian beauty, especially Korean beauty products; whilst others are interested in trendy fashion items, for example, outfits inspired by K-pop artists. Our customers come from all around the world. 93% of our customers are female, and over 70% of them are Millennials and Gen Z consumers” Lau explained.

YesStyle’s offerings are not limited to beauty and cosmetic products. The platform features a wide selection of everything from beauty products, to casual or chic fashion for women and men, to home accessories, decorations, gadgets, lifestyle items, outdoor equipment, travel goods, pet supplies and more.

A key driver behind YesStyle’s success is its innovative way of bringing new products to its customers. For instance, it launched the first K-Beauty advent calendar three years ago, capitalising on the success of similar products in the West. Beauty advent calendars have been a trend in the U.S. and Europe for quite some time, but the trend has never really reached Asian companies before YesStyle.com made it available on its platform.

“Back in 2018, we saw the opportunity to leverage our presence as our customers’ go-to retailer for K-beauty products and the fact that most of them are from the US and Europe, and launched the first ever multi-brand advent calendar that was fully dedicated to K-beauty products on the market,” Lau shared.

“Our advent calendar was immediately very well-received among not just our customers, but also our brand partners. Many of them find the idea very novel since they have not seen anything similar in South Korea before. We launched the K-beauty advent calendar with the purposes of strengthening our image as a beauty retailer, to attract more traffic, and to give more exposure to the products of our brand partners in the international market through KOL and

PHILOSOPHY

YesStyle encourages a customer-centric culture emphasizing respect, dignity, teamwork, innovation, and high-quality work. Coupled with our efforts in people development, these values have created a motivating and dynamic working environment for our employees.

FAST FACTS

• 1998 – AsiaCD.com was launched • 2000 - AsiaCD.com was changed to YesAsia.com • 2006 - YesStyle.com was launched • 2010 - The YesStylist Blog was launched • 2013 - YesStyle’s Facebook page hit 1 million likes • 2014 - The YesStyle iOS & Android apps were launched • 2014 - YesStyle has been recognized as a "Caring Company 2014/19" by the Hong Kong

Council of Social Service • 2018 - The YesStyle Friends

Reward Program was launched • 2018 - YesStyle launched the first ever multi-brand Korean beauty advent calendar • 2019 – Number of YesStyle app downloads reached 3 million • 2019 - The YesStyle Influencer

Program was launched • 2020 - YesStyle’s Instagram page hit 1 million followers

Top Left: Employee feedback is addressed to create a harmonious working environment. Top Right & bottom: YesStyle CEO, Joshua Lau, presenting the K-beauty boxes, advent calendar, and INSSAKIT.

influencer videos - and I think we have been successful in realising its purpose,” he added.

YesStyle also prides itself for offering prompt and reliable customer service. To better serve customers in non-English-speaking markets, YesStyle has been adding additional languages since 2018, and currently supports French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese.

It also works with a number of logistics companies to offer various shipment options to its clients. It offers express or standard shipment to most countries through trusted couriers such as FedEx, DHL and Hong Kong Post.

To keep up with changing consumer trends, the company continues to enhance and refine its shopping platform. In 2014, the company launched the YesStyle iOS and Android mobile apps. By the end of 2019, customers had visited YesStyle.com over 99,000,000 times, whilst the apps have accumulated more than 3,000,000 downloads. As of 2019, YesStyle has over 900,000 active customers, a growth of over 40% compared to the previous year.

YesStyle also constantly engages its users across a variety of social media platforms. Its Instagram account and Facebook page now have over 1 million followers each, and it also works with various influencers to boost its online presence. In 2019, the company launched the YesStyle Influencer Program and has since recruited over 50,000 social media influencers.

“The YesStyle Influencer Program is one of our key highlights and achievements in the past year. Through joining the program, influencers gain benefits in forms of commissions, free products and opportunities to grow their channels by hosting giveaways; whilst YesStyle’s brand partners can also leverage our network to amass a great deal of product reviews and user-generated content from influencers around the world, thus gaining exposure,” Lau said.

A visionary leadership

Over the years, YesAsia.com has received numerous accolades for its popularity and superior customer service. In 2000, YesAsia.com successfully raised $93m (US$12m) in venture capital financing from three institutional investors: PCCW, Walden International, and Morgan Stanley.

In July 2006, YesAsia.com launched its sister website, YesStyle.com. YesStyle brought the proven e-commerce platform and technology of its sister website to deliver beauty products and fashion from Asia to a worldwide audience.

“People are our most important asset. We welcome candidates from various backgrounds and cultures to join us,” Lau said. The company has over 500 employees stationed in its Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo offices.

In the future, YesStyle aims to maintain its competitive edge by providing the perfect customer experience and building strategic alliances with premium brands.

Index

2021 OUTLOOK

Economic recovery or recession in 2021 hinges on border reopening 4 Property market to slowly recover in 2021 6 Pandemic unveils new ways of working 8 Buyers seek immersive retail experiences 10 Hong Kong’s legal sector faces tougher competition from Chinese law firms 12

HONG KONG’S HIGH FLYERS

Outstanding Enterprises 2020

Archikris Design Group (Interior Design) 18 BOC Life (Outstanding Insurance Company) 20 Elite Concepts (Innovative F&B Concepts) 24 FIL Investment Ltd (Financial Services) 26

Guerlain (Digital – Beauty and Cosmetics) 28 Hang Seng Bank (Commercial Bank) 30 HKBN Enterprise Solutions (Best Network, Broadband, Cloud and ICT Provider) 32 Lan Kwai Fong Group (Entertainment) 34 Mayer & Associes (Law Firm) 36 Prime Credit Ltd (Outstanding Finance Company) 38 Soteria Trusts (Trust and Fiduciary Services) 40 Standard Chartered Bank (Bank of the Year) 42

Togher Group (Overseas Property Investments) 44 Yesstyle.com.Ltd (E-Commerce – Retail) 46