What is iMile Middle East e-commerce logistics & iMile Middle East e-commerce logistics Review

iMile Middle East E-commerce Logistics is a Chinese cross-border e-commerce logistics platform that focuses on serving the Middle East market. It has rich local experience and aims to help the Middle East solve the biggest pain point of last-mile delivery, COD (Cash On Delivery).

About iMile

The iMile team is all based in Dubai. Its core members come from industries such as express delivery, warehouse management, e-commerce, and cloud services. It is a technology-driven localized logistics service platform.

· Founder Ms. Huang Zhen, formerly CTO of Alibaba Cloud Middle East Joint Venture and country manager of Huawei, has 9 years of operational experience in the Middle East and North Africa. She has strong localization technology and service experience and is determined to solve the pain points of COD for Chinese e-commerce sellers. In addition, as the founder of ePanda, a leading Internet information platform in the Middle East, she is also active in the Middle East entrepreneurial circle.

iMile Services

1. COD (Cash on Delivery): There is a dedicated team to study solutions to improve the COD delivery rate and provide professional collection services.

2. Local delivery: We have our own delivery team to ensure high-quality local delivery services.

3. Customer Service: Stay connected with end customers through various channels such as SMS, phone, email, social media, etc.

4. Overseas warehouse: provide overseas warehouse storage, sorting, packaging and inventory services.

5. International first-leg transportation: Provide first-leg air transportation services from China to the Middle East.

iMile Business Process

1. Consumers place orders on the independent website or APP page of China's cross-border e-commerce;

2. The order is purchased by the seller in the country and enters iMile's warehouse in China;

3. After the sellers' goods are uniformly transported to the collection warehouse, they are generally transported to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates by air, and then enter iMile's self-built warehouse in the Middle East after customs clearance;

4. iMile’s courier team then delivers the goods to consumers, forming a closed loop.

Background of iMile

The Middle East has a population of about 490 million, and the per capita GDP of Middle Eastern countries including Qatar, Israel, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates ranks 50th in the world. According to Internet World Stats, there are more than 160 million Internet users in the Middle East, with an Internet penetration rate of 60%, and a huge e-commerce market.

Souq, an e-commerce company with full categories, was acquired in 2017. Noon was launched in the UAE at the end of September 2017. The founders jointly invested $1 billion with the Saudi sovereign investment fund to create Noon, a local e-commerce platform in the Middle East. Zhejiang Zhiyu, as a representative of cross-border e-commerce, has developed rapidly and expanded to all categories. The frequent actions of e-commerce platforms have made Huang Zhen, the founder of iMile, see the logistics opportunities behind them. iMile has entered the cross-border e-commerce logistics platform, aiming to connect the entire process between Chinese sellers and end consumers in the Middle East.

iMile operating background and model

1. First of all, we should first mention the logistics characteristics of the Middle East - COD (Cash On Delivery): Online payment in the Middle East is underdeveloped, and 80% of consumers still choose to pay on delivery. Although the cash on delivery model has lowered the consumption threshold, online shoppers still have low trust in e-commerce, and the rejection rate remains high. In addition, the logistics foundation in the Middle East is weak, there is no clear address planning, and the delivery personnel cannot find the house number and zip code, resulting in low efficiency in the last mile delivery. Secondly, the particularity of the Middle East logistics market is that the connection between cross-border e-commerce and C-end customers is fragile, and after-sales customer service and collection are actually in the hands of logistics companies. Consumers often mistake logistics and e-commerce for one, so if they encounter returns and product quality problems during purchase, consumers will directly find the logistics company to request a return or exchange.

2. Based on the background of the Middle East logistics market, founder Huang Zhen believes that overseas projects must be close to the market and have a deep understanding of local policies and cultural environment in order to create products that are more suitable for the market. In view of the COD model and the particularity of customer service, iMile has built its own localized operation team and independently developed warehouse management systems including TMS and WMS. Couriers can use iMile's App to make appointments with customers for delivery time in advance, and can optimize routes, estimate arrival time and other data. In terms of payment, iMile currently mainly collects cash. In the future, it plans to cooperate with local banks in terminal payments to reduce direct cash collection, such as using mobile phones to scan QR codes for payment, and reduce payment rejections in the payment process. In addition, with the increase in the number of orders delivered every day, iMile will further optimize data collection in terminal delivery, and its own address database information will become more and more complete. The higher the address accuracy rate, the higher the signing rate will be.

iMile Advantages

1. A Chinese team that understands the Middle East: iMile is a Chinese team, which gives it a natural advantage in cooperation with Chinese e-commerce companies. In terms of localization, it also has rich experience. The founder himself has nearly ten years of local experience in the Middle East. The team has domestic logistics talents. By applying domestic mature experience to the Middle East market, iMile has better growth potential.

2. iMile is positioned as "small and beautiful": Different from large platforms, iMile is more flexible. When other platforms cannot complete delivery after following the process, iMile will use localized customer service methods to contact customers. Because the entire process of iMile is set up according to COD and the operation is refined, the overall signing rate is higher than the industry level. The current industry average is around 60%-70%. The signing rate is very important and directly determines the cost of the merchant. A signing rate of 50% means that the cost has at least doubled.

iMile Corporate Culture

Clients: Focus on serving Chinese cross-border e-commerce merchants and localized e-commerce platforms.

Positioning: A technology-driven localized logistics service platform.

Benefit sharing: Share development dividends with partners and core employees.

Business goal: To become the top cross-border e-commerce logistics service provider in the Middle East.