Dated: 12 November 2003
Tired of waiting on a relative or friend abroad to bring things down from foreign for you? Besides, wouldn’t it be better getting your own personalised U.S. mailing address and have your mail, CD, books or those great, unusual and handy "AS SEEN ON TV" items which are available through 1-800 numbers, delivered directly to your front door?
Well worry no more, because without a U.S. visa and plane fare fe go a fareign fe shap, you can now have the best of both worlds through the E-Biz Centre, located at 14 Worthington Terrace in New Kingston, which allows you to "Click a yaad… an’ shop a abrawd!
"For persons watching cable TV and seeing some fantastic products being advertised and is only being offered via 1-800 numbers and which you’d like to purchase but you can’t, those items can now be had in a very cost-effective way," said the enterprising 48-year-old electronic engineer, Brian Aikman, who heads the E-Biz Centre, which specialises in providing locals with personalised US mailing addresses, inclusive of door-to-door delivery, credit card facility, fast custom clearances, ship-to-air shipping and a universal telephone number. It is important to note that it isn’t a post box you are offered. Rather, it is bona fide mailing address, which you have the option of renting for a month just accommodate a one-time transaction. Otherwise, the service is available on an annual subscription.
"Gone are the days when you need a US visa to travel to America to do your shopping, and whether you have a credit card, we are providing a facility where you can pay for those ‘AS SEEN ON TV" items right in our offices," said Aikman, who runs the operation with two other staff members.
Aikman also explains that because lots of overseas suppliers of merchandises no longer accept international credit cards for payments due to widespread fraudulent practices, they also offer a service where they will make the transactions on their clients’ behalf. "Even if you don’t have access to an international credit card, we’ll make the purchase for you and you pay us the Jamaican equivalent. Also, if it’s a situation where the online merchant only accept US-issued credit cards, we can also facilitate your purchase at a minimal service charge of 3% for the cost of the item for locally issued international cards, and 5% on US- issued card.
The E-Biz Centre, which falls under the rules that govern courier companies, is in fact a courier service that brings in goods on behalf of their clients. Each client’s package is taken to customs not as The E-biz Centre, but as John Brown or Mary Johns, or ABC Company who is bring in this particular item. Should Customs consider the quantity or the item to be of a commercial nature, then they would require that the company or the individual do an entry for clearance. If it is a small item being brought in by an individual, however, namely a book purchase from online bookstore, we will clear the item on the individual’s behalf, and just like DHL or FedEx, they would reimburse us whatever we had to pay Customs to clear it.
Fascinating though it seems, the Businessuite, asked Aikman how it all began.
Although Aikman had been dabbling in a similar type operation, on a personal basis of course, a couple years previously, The E-Biz Centre was officially established in December 1999 with the expressed intention to solve the challenges he and other like minded online shoppers were experiencing making purchases and having items delivered to them in Jamaica.
"We then rationalize that since we were shaving these challenges, then naturally, there ought to be others who were doing the same things and obviously need a solution," Aikman said. Therefore along with wife, Denise, and another couple, Dr. and Mrs. Noel Watson, Aikman set about providing a service to other person who were using their credit cards shopping online, via 1-800 numbers or through catalogues and have their purchases delivered to a US address. The company also caters to companies who want to reduce their inventory.
‘The US mailing address service was created primarily for persons who want to purchase items from companies in the USA that didn’t ship directly to Jamaica, but who will ship to any US address, and in most cases, for free. Thus, in setting up this service, we effectively allow persons, with the click of a mouse, to shop from their computer, catalogue, or through 1-800-numbers and in a matter of days have such items delivered at their door.
Businessuite: For such a personalised service, isn’t this an expensive venture for the average Jamaican? Besides, wouldn’t be easier for you to take a plane and fly up to Miami or New York to do your shopping?
Aikman: The converse is more the truth. For example, no traveling is required and having a US Visa is no longer an option for you avail yourself to bargains in America.
As you know, the next big sale in America will be Thanks Giving in November and we’ll no doubt see a number of Jamaicans flying to Miami or New York or wherever they fly to there to, to stock up on bargain-basement merchandises. That is all well and good for those who can afford to do so. However, how about those persons who would like to avail themselves to the same bargains, but for one reason or another cannot afford the additional cost of airfare, accommodation, food and just by having the means to get about, not to mention the time you’ll have to spend moving from place to place seems very much a mitigating factor.
However, when you use our services to make your purchases online, through catalogues or 1-800 numbers, you’ll be saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. When you use our service to collect and deliver your merchandise, it only cost you a mere fraction of what it would have cost if you had you taken the trip to make the same purchase.
So, you no longer have to miss out on a sale in the States anymore, or anywhere for that matter, and most importantly you benefit more without the additional and associated expenses associated with having to travel. Not having a US Visa isn’t such a big deal anymore, especially for most people who merely want to go there to do their shopping. Not only does The E-Biz Centre cater to individuals, there is also an aspect of the business that facilitates commercial businesses in reducing their inventory. "Normally when you want an auto part, for example, you would go to Miami or elsewhere and make the purchase and unless that part turned over in 30 days, most auto parts businesses aren’t going to stock it in-house. So, they’ll get on their computer to make the order, and within a couple of days or so, they’ll have the part or parts in your hand.
We are providing the same services for businesses, which instead of keeping large inventory of hard to get stocks, which of course severely ties up your cash flow, increases insurance premiums, cost of warehousing, increase in of pilferage, security cost.
"When you use our service it effectively helps you to reduce or eliminate all that added cost by ordering on as need or just in time basis. Therefore, if you need a hard to get auto part, all you need to do is to get on to your computer, log on to your supplier’s website, place the order online via credit card, have it delivered to the US mailing address we provide you and before you realise what’s happening, we’ll have your order delivered to you at your home or your place of business, and of course without the great expense.
“You see, most companies wouldn’t think of doing this because of the cost of sending it by air or freight or via the normal courier services, but because our services are more cost-effective, it allows them to order those small orders, bring it in, pay the duties and so on have the item delivered within 5-working days.”
There’s no doubt The E-Biz Centre is filling a unique need, but the $54-queston is: Are Jamaicans really utilising this service?
"They have taken to the service very well, more than we expected initially," responded Aikman, adding that the client cuts right across the board. "We have persons from all sector of the society utilizing our services, including students at every level primary, secondary and tertiary. There are also few schools, namely from the primary level who regularly ordered some of their hard-to-get textbooks from overseas suppliers through us. There are also students, particularly at university level and A’ Level, most of whose books are either not available or too expensive to purchase locally, where as in the USA, there are a large secondary market where you can get those same books at reasonable good prices when compared to what you’d pay for them in the bookstores here.
Clients, which are now over 3,000, range from the individual to business concerns. Besides, this service also provides a number of small entrepreneurs who sees a business opportunity where they can source unique items that aren’t available in locally on the web, and these items are purchase when a client makes an order. Therefore, there is no need for such persons to stock up on one items, because when the order is made they simply facilitate the drop-shipment process.
Anthony Myers, who has been with The E-Biz Centre going two years, uses is U.S. mailing address in facilitation his hobby. "I uses E-Biz exclusively for personal reasons, namely purchasing of music CDs and DVDs, mostly gospel, pop, and lovie-dovie-softies. What this service has done for is to eliminate the airfare, the need for an American visa, and they have also protected me from the high prices I would have to pay for my music collection."
Aikman said they are not only filling a need, but they are providing a cheaper access to hard-to-get merchandises, namely books, appliances, even auto parts. We have brought in up to an engine block. But we are not limited to what we can bring in. Once, it is legal stuffs and the airline can carry it, we’ll take in for you. We also have access to sea, so we can bring in things by way of sea, such as a relative abroad sending you a barrel full of goodies.
Are there plans to expand the business and the number of services offered? Aikman said yes, but further explained what he called the ‘fourth-party logistics. "If you look at the way commerce is moving in the world, a lot of companies are not putting down the expense of a warehouse, the shipping services and so on. They want the products almost on an as needed basis. So there is, I think, a lot of scope for expansion in this business. With the phenomenal growth in the used car industry, where most have to maintain a certain level of stocks, it is not possible e to have that cash sitting down on a shelf waiting for an accident to happen."
|
