MyUS's Popularity in GCC and MENA Regions Discussed on Dubai Radio

MyUS CEO Ramesh Bulusu joined Brandy Scott on the Business Breakfast Show to discuss our international shipping services and how we just launched an Arabic version of our website.

Some highlights:

Brandy Scott with the Business Breakfast (BB): MyUS.com ships more than 10,000 parcels a day across the world. And thanks to their growing popularity in the Middle East, they’re launching an Arabic site for their customer base here. So tell me exactly why would someone use your services? Why are they not just getting stuff posted direct from the supplier?

Ramesh Bulusu (RB): First of all, there’s a few reasons why most consumers all over the world -- and especially our customers in the GCC region -- shop from the US. One, often times the price is cheaper. Two, there’s a lot more availability in the US than in their local countries. And third, specific to our more affluent customers in the GCC, there is authenticity of the product. Some of our customers buy very high-value products and they know for sure they’re getting real, genuine products.

Specific to why [people would not ship] directly from the retailers - most US-based retailers do not ship most of their products to foreign products. MyUS.com has been in business since 1997. We are a US export company. We are certified to ship a very broad set of product categories to just about every country in the world. And, more importantly, we are growing our customer base in the GCC and the MENA regions.

BB: So I was just looking at your website as I was prepping for this interview yesterday. One of the things I buy is quite a lot of toys. I was interested by the idea that you guys would package those toys - if I ordered from a lot of different places, you’d put them all together and send them in one package, which would cost less money. How does that work? Do you literally strip off all the random boxes that come with them?

RB: So it’s very simple. We call it “package consolidation”. So what that enables is our customers can buy from multiple US retailers and we give our customers free storage - up to 30 days - in our warehouse so they have ample time to shop from multiple websites and all their products arrive into our warehouse. We then take out the outside box that the US retailers use and we put all their retail packaging into a single shipment. We pack it very adequately without any unnecessary fillers, and that’s how we save a significant amount of money for our members. Oftentimes the first pound, or the first kg, is the most expensive to ship internationally. As you add more weight to the same shipment the cost per kg goes down significantly, so you can buy more and save more.

Listen to the full interview here

Thank you to Brandy and the Business Breakfast for the great conversation!

The Business Breakfast show on the Dubai Eye (103.8 FM) is a round-up of the day’s most important business stories, providing local content and context on the international issues that matter.

Full Transcript of Interview with Dubai’s Business Breakfast

Brandy Scott with the Business Breakfast (BB): Our next guest is going to feed your desire for American products that you just can’t get here in the GCC. MyUS.com is a package forwarding company which ships more than 10,000 parcels a day across the world. And thanks to their growing popularity in the Middle East, they’re launching an Arabic site for their customer base here. Ramesh Bulusu is the CEO of the company and joins us now on the line. Good morning, Ramesh.

Ramesh Bulusu (RB): Good morning. How are you doing?

BB: Hello, very well. I know it’s evening for you but it’s bright and early morning here in Dubai. So tell me exactly why would someone use your services? Why are they not just getting stuff posted direct from the supplier?

RB: First of all, there’s a few reasons why most consumers all over the world -- and especially our customers in the GCC region -- shop from the US. One: Oftentimes the price is cheaper. Two: There’s a lot more availability in the US than in their local countries. And third: Specific to our more affluent customers in the GCC, there is authenticity of the product. Some of our customers buy very high-value product and they know for sure they’re getting real, genuine products.

Specific to why not directly from the retailers - most US-based retailers do not ship most of their products to foreign products; whereas MyUS.com has been in business since 1997. We are a US export company. We are certified to ship a very broad set of product categories to just about every country in the world. And, more importantly, we are growing our customer base in the GCC and the MENA regions.

RB: No, so it’s very simple. We call it “package consolidation”. So what that enables is our customers can buy from multiple US retailers and we give our customers free storage - up to 30 days - in our warehouse so they have ample time to shop from multiple websites and all their products arrive into our warehouse. We then take out the outside box that the US retailers use and we put all their retail packaging into a single shipment. We pack it very adequately without any unnecessary fillers, and that’s how we save a significant amount of money for our members. Oftentimes the first pound, or the first kg, is the most expensive to ship internationally. As you add more weight to the same shipment the cost per kg goes down significantly, so you can buy more and save more.

BB: Ramesh, I can see why that can work and make more things cheaper and why a lot of customers would like that, but I can also imagine why some customers might not like the idea of you undoing their parcels, taking out what’s inside and consolidating it, and that customs also might not be so keen on the idea of it not coming with the original shippers’ packaging and cardboard around it. Surely it also leaves you a little open to allegations of tampering and theft? How do you deal with those issues?

RB: Well there’s no tampering. We inspect every single item, in fact that’s in the best interest of the customer to make sure if they’re not satisfied we don’t necessary need to ship, and we can return it while it’s still domestically in the US. We inspect and take pictures - our online process and the mobile app gives them complete visibility and control into what they’re buying and what they can see online. We put the control in the customer’s hands. Ultimately, it’s up to them if they want to consolidation or if they want to ship individually. They choice is theirs. It’s just that when they consolidate, they save a lot more on shipping and it’s very, very fast, like we always do.

BB: Yeah, I just wonder if it opens you up to allegations - unfounded or not - if Amazon, or Anne Taylor rather, says I sent three skirts and the person says “I only got two”, and you guys are in the middle. Is that an issues?

RB: Well, no, not really. We’ve been doing this for a long time. We’ve shipped more than $250 million of product last year alone. We’ve shipped over 2 million items just to the GCC region just last year alone. We do what we do to our customers’ satisfaction. Our customer reviews on Facebook speak for themselves. We provide a best-in-class service that keeps our customers happy and it’s not necessary an issue of tampering or consolidation. Consolidation is a savings element, not necessarily anything beyond that.

BB: So how will the parcel itself get to me at the other end? Because here in the UAE, unlike - for example - the UK, there isn’t really a regular postal service. How do you get it to my house?

RB: Yes, good question. We use very respected, reliable international carriers such as FedEx, DHL and UPS. Again, the customer gets the choice. Because of the couriers we use, it’s very fast. We often can ship to the GCC region within 3-4 days to their door from our warehouse in Florida, US. It’s affordable and it’s very fast.

BB: How are you competing with the companies we already have here. What are you competing on? How are you making yourselves better?

RB: We are better and different in several ways. First and foremost, we are an American company. We’ve been doing this since 1997. We have more than 370,000 customers worldwide. Second, we do what we call “repacking”. Oftentimes when other companies offer services like this, they literally forward a parcel from a US retailer to the international customer. Most US retailers, when they ship domestically, there’s lots of fillers - a lot of air - and the customer is paying for that unnecessary weight and that unnecessary volume. When we repack, we adequately protect the package and eliminate unwanted wasted space, thereby saving money for the customer. And number three, we also consolidate thereby allowing customers to save even more. And lastly, speed. We are very consistent, very reliable high-quality service, and super fast in how we deliver in less than 4 days versus 10-14 days with some of the other services out there.

BB: Very quickly before we let you go Ramesh, how do returns work? Does the customer pay for those?

RB: The customer pays for returns but in our service we do everything possible to give the visibility to the customer before the product leaves the US. We do it online and using our mobile app. The customer can see everything with the pictures we take of the product and they’re absolutely sure that they want the product when it gets shipped out. So we see very few returns because of that upfront, proactive process.

BB: Thank you very much. Ramesh Bulusu, the CEO of MyUS.com.

RB: Thank you for having me.