Sneakers shipped seamlessly, speedily
For homegrown marketplace platform Novelship, sending its limited-edition kicks and apparel all around the globe is a breeze.
Inspired by Japan's capital city, the Air Jordan 1 Retro High 'Tokyo Bio Hack' has an upper made from leather and suede. Sneakerheads are prepared to spend plenty on rare or collectible items. Photos: Novelship
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For those in the know, streetwear is a fast-growing business. In 2019, the sneaker resale market in the United States was worth US$2 billion alone. Little wonder why there are plenty of enthusiasts willing to hunt down limited-edition sneakers and spend hours online camping for launches of popular products that can fetch thousands of dollars when resold.
Which is where Novelship comes in. The homegrown marketplace for reselling sneakers, streetwear and collectibles transacts a sizeable volume of items. It’s less of finding a market for their rare wares, but rather, the logistics of shipping them.
One item in particular was especially memorable for Novelship co-founder Mr Richard Xia: A rare pair of Air Jordan 1s that came in a metal suitcase that made shipping it to its new owner a real challenge.
“The suitcase forms part of the shoes’ value,” he explained. “But it made the shipping box very big and of course, it was prone to damage.”
Novelship’s logistics partner DHL made recommendations on how to pack the shoes and their unusual suitcase to ensure they were protected. More importantly, DHL Express delivered the shoes safely to the recipient – as it does for other items sold through Novelship.
The company was started by Mr Xia and his co-founder Chris Xue. Having spotted an opportunity in the rising demand for streetwear and sneakers in the wider Asian market, the pair sold off their own beloved collections to fund their start-up – which proved to be a successful gamble for them. Today, Novelship has five processing centres in the region and a presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Australia.
ENSURING AUTHENTICITY
When a sale occurs, sellers on the Novelship platform ship the items to a processing centre where they undergo thorough checks by brand experts. While this takes time, it is a necessary step to ensure that buyers receive items that are authentic.
“We still want to give our customers the fastest delivery possible,” said Mr Xia. “After we authenticate the item, we ship it directly to the recipient. DHL Express makes it really fast, even though it’s such a complicated process.
“If there are any taxes or duties, they will collect them directly from the buyer, or if there’s a change of delivery address, DHL will also arrange it with the buyer. It saves us time and manpower as once the item is handed over to them, DHL handles it all.”
DHL Express also provides timely delivery to customers eager to receive their new kicks. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Xia recalled that he once sent out an item from Singapore in the afternoon. “By the night of the second day, it was already in New York! After COVID-19, there was on average a one to two-day extension – but compared to every other option, DHL Express is still among the fastest.”
“There are quite a number of up-and-coming start-ups that deal with cross-border and regional shipping, but I don’t think they have the necessary infrastructure and expertise. When customers see that their items are coming from DHL, they feel much more at ease as they perceive DHL to be capable and safe.”
A PARTNER BEYOND SHIPPING
DHL’s relationship with Novelship goes beyond being a mere service provider. It is a partner that has supported Novelship’s growth since its early days.
Mr Xia recounted how when Novelship first launched, the start-up experienced some technical difficulties integrating its logistics system with DHL’s. This meant that many processes – like printing out labels and keying in shipping information – could not be automated, a stressful situation for a young start-up with limited manpower.
“We had our account manager from DHL come down various times to help us. One thing I remember very clearly – our account manager told us that they wanted us to succeed.
“He asked: ‘How can we help you? We can help you to do the manual tasks on our end until you can get to the point where we can automate these processes.’ It was a relief that we didn’t have to resort to this as we managed to integrate the system successfully, but it was a very big commitment on their end.”
Going forward, Mr Xia said that Novelship wants to deepen its roots in the six markets it is present in and continue improving its service standards. “Fulfilment time is a big aspect of this, and that is where DHL Express comes in.”
He added: “Our items are expensive and people want them fast, so DHL Express fits our customers and our platform with its balance of price, reliability and speed. When you’re talking about S$500, S$10,000 pairs of shoes, you want your items to be in safe hands with a multinational company like DHL and its decades of experience with cross-border shipping.”
Learn more about how you can expand your business’s reach worldwide with DHL Express.
