It takes just about five clicks to complete an online purchase, from filling your shopping basket to paying for your items and arranging for delivery.

But behind your computers and mobile phone screens, retail companies wrestle with a complex web of logistics to make sure these parcels arrive at your doorstep &mdash in one piece and on time.

In 2014, siblings Clement Lee, 51, and Zanetta Lee, 44, formed Synagie Corporation with their friend Ms Olive Tai, 45, when they realised that businesses needed help navigating these processes.

The company offers firms end-to-end e-commerce services, from cataloguing and marketing to warehousing and lastmile delivery, as well as a cloud-based platform, powered by real-time data analytics and artificial intelligence.

  Synagie Corporation offers retail businesses one-stop e-commerce solutions, and counts brands such as Johnson & Johnson and Shiseido among its over 280 customers. PHOTO: TED CHEN

 

It has more than 100 employees across five South-east Asian countries, and counts brands such as Johnson & Johnson and Shiseido among its over 280 customers.

E-COMMERCE MADE EASY

Synagie&rsquo s industry foresight has helped it to reap the benefits of South-east Asia&rsquo s booming e-commerce sector, which is on track to hit US$153 billion (S$213 billion) by 2025 &mdash more than four times its current annual value. This is based on a 2019 report by Temasek, Google and Bain & Company.

According to a study by global research firm Statista and The Straits Times, Synagie is now the fastest-growing company in Singapore with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 340 per cent.

&ldquo It&rsquo s a huge market that is growing at a phenomenal speed,&rdquo said Mr Lee, Synagie&rsquo s chief executive officer.

&ldquo And selling goods and services online is especially important for Singapore companies because of our small domestic market.&rdquo

This is Synagie&rsquo s area of speciality. The company helps retail businesses to set up virtual stores on websites and online shopping platforms such as Lazada, Shopee and Qoo10. It also creates marketing strategies for these companies, based on the regions and audiences they are targeting.

&ldquo South-east Asia is a &lsquo jungle&rsquo , which means the strategy has to be different from country to country,&rdquo said Mr Lee. &ldquo We have experience writing compelling content, and use artificial intelligence to detect flaws, such as descriptions that are not attention- grabbing or emotional enough.&rdquo

One of the company&rsquo s key selling points is its role as an integrated &ldquo back office&rdquo for retail businesses. It helps to manage and automate value chains, overseeing everything from inventory management to last-mile deliveries, and provides data- driven insights to improve its clients&rsquo businesses.

&ldquo For example, if people often buy snacks and soft drinks at the same time, we would suggest that some of our clients explore a cross-brand promotion,&rdquo he said.

FROM LOCAL TO REGIONAL

Synagie&rsquo s easy-to-use services have helped it to expand its footprint across Asia.

In 2019, the company inked a number of partnerships with regional brands such as Lazada, Kosé and global sporting giant Amer Sports Malaysia to strengthen its foothold in the region. It plans to open a new office in Indonesia this year, adding to its bases in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.

It is also working with enterprise development agency Enterprise Singapore to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore go global through e-commerce.

The project will provide SMEs with end-to-end solutions, including business advisory, content development, big data analytics, cross-border warehousing and fulfilment, and will help companies to sell online in regional and international marketplaces, using Synagie&rsquo s cloud-based e-commerce platform.

&ldquo Our technological capabilities and regional network offer unique advantages to SMEs. We look forward to helping them manage and scale their businesses digitally across borders,&rdquo said Ms Tai, Synagie&rsquo s executive director.

Mr Lee added that Synagie plans to expand its market share in South-east Asia to better help companies prepare for the future. &ldquo We just created an entire department to help SMEs sell in other countries. We want to have a firm foothold in the region and we want our presence to be able to better serve our brand partners.&rdquo

Synagie IPO at 27 cents in 2018, it was loss making with a revenue of 12.3 million.  Its IPO price was priced at 5.75 times of Sales based on 2017 pro forma results.

Its latest results revenue of over $38 million, net profti of over $4 million.    Why not priced it on Sales as when it IPO after 3 years of operations  and generating cashflow of $7.8 million, close to IPO and Debt Free.

When it IPO it compares itself to other ecommerce co - priced it on the p.e of the profitable co.

Business Time article (extract)

E-commerce startup Synagie prices IPO at S$0.27 to raise net proceeds of S$9.8m

MON, JUL 30, 2018 - 5:06 PM

Revenue in 2017 jumped to S$8 million from S$3.7 million in 2016, as it added 77 new brand partners bringing the total to more than 250.

E-commerce revenue was S$7.2 million. Synagie sells goods on an outright purchase basis as well as on consignment. Last year, roughly 28 per cent of sales were done on a consignment basis, where margins are lower.

He said: &ldquo In hindsight we made a mistake in 2017, we were inclined on a cashflow basis to push for more consignment.

But certain brands that we already have three years of track record, we know how much they sell a year, we know how much they' re growing, then the key decision is we should be optimising the margins and not go for a stockless model.&rdquo

E-logistics revenue was S$817,000 last year. Synagie offers on-demand warehousing and last mile delivery services by outsourcing the work to Ceva Logistics, SF Express and SimplyPost.

The products that Synagie markets are targeted for sale in Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore accounted for 99.9 per cent of e-commerce and e-logistics revenues last year, though Synagie has since set up operations in Malaysia at the end of last year.

On a pro forma basis, Synagie made a net loss of S$2.3 million, on revenue of S$12.3 million, after accounting for the new insurtech business acquired in April.

In April, Synagie acquired 1CARE Global for a cash consideration of S$3.3 million.

Insurtech for Synagie is basically an extended warranty business that Mr Lee hopes will help Synagie move into the electronics segment. Oppo is one new brand partner that came on board this year.

Synagie started out focusing on baby products, since baby products have the highest e-commerce penetration. It later branched out into the body and beauty segments.

At S$0.27 a share, Synagie is priced at 5.75 times sales based on the group&rsquo s pro forma 2017 results.

Mr Lee likens Synagie&rsquo s business to Baozun in China, albeit on a much smaller scale. Synagie&rsquo s rivals include aCommerce, Anchanto, DKSH, SCI Ecommerce, Singpost eCommerce, Y Ventures, Shopify and Shopmatic, according to Frost & Sullivan. Y Ventures was the first e-commerce startup to list here last year.

In the insurtech space, Synagie said its rivals include The Warranty Group and Brightstar Corp.

The IPO proceeds will be used for business expansion and working capital, Synagie said in its prospectus registered on Monday. This will include looking at how blockchain technology can be used to issue contracts and authenticate payments, and building up an invoice factoring service for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Mr Lee said: &ldquo We are launching our SME acquisition plan very soon. The reason why we were originally focused on MNCs (multinationals) is only because they sell faster, their brands are more well-known.&rdquo

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