The core team members have extensive experience thanks to previous tenures in P&G, the American multinational consumer goods corporation. “We aim to build our team and services with a global mindset,” said Gutz Wang, Sales Director of HH Galaxy.

From communication and negotiation skills to business forecasting, and measuring marketing performance, Gutz dedicated himself to sharing these skills he learned at P&G with his team. “I once had a partner tell me how assured and comfortable they were to work with us.”

As a sales representative, Gutz shares the most challenging thing in doing business. “Brands want to achieve business goals with allocated budgets while promoting their brand value. Yet e-commerce platforms would argue for the best prices. Our job is to balance both needs and interests by finding them a sweet spot for an enjoyable collaboration.”

In addition to solid negotiation skills, the HH Galaxy team possesses a great advantage over other e-commerce agencies. “With over 30 partnering e-commerce platforms, we have a sound grasp of their features and user persona. Moreover, we currently serve more than 100 brands and have enormous samples of transaction data at hand. These cross-category and cross-platform data marry with practical data analytics and advertising experience, our team is capable of keenly evaluating successful strategies and tactics for product promotion.”

Comprehensive Grasp of Brands and Platforms

When it comes to onboarding new clients, the HH Galaxy team first helps brands select the right products based on the customer attributes of each e-commerce platform. Then they would help drive their sales by aligning advertising resources and marketing campaigns with each platform’s own campaigns. Taking a casual shoe brand as an example, this client has witnessed an incredible 60% growth in sales since they started partnering with HH Galaxy in 2020. Such success can be credited to the team’s profound understanding of e-commerce platforms.

“The customer base that prefers to shop with Momo, an e-commerce platform in Taiwan, is mainly women between mid-30s and mid-40s. They tend to have clear preferences and personal styles. So we suggest the client offer shoes in plum or pink color on Momo’s platform. In contrast, we suggest selling shoes in grey and black color on Shopee, another e-commerce platform, because the customers here are comparably younger and look for shoes that go for all occasions.” This product selection technique helped the client achieve exceptional sales in last year’s Double 11 campaign.

In addition to targeted product selection, the HH Galaxy team utilizes the “resource exchange” technique when negotiating with platforms. “Many brands working with e-commerce platforms for the very first time often find it difficult in product selection and struggle with offering the best prices to meet the e-commerce platforms’ expectations. However, we can create a triple-win through resource exchange. Examples of this technique include Double 11-exclusive product offerings on respective platforms or different product bundles.”

HH Galaxy also embraces the shopping festivals created by e-commerce platforms. “Besides the annual 6/18, 9/9, and 11/11 events, Shopee launches “double date” campaigns on its platform each month, such as 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, and subsequently until 12/12. Plus, free shipping and discount coupons on the 18th and 25th of each month. So when special offers are launching on the platform, we can help clients optimize advertising resources for better results.” The team currently helps operate 30+ official shops on Shopee, thus they stay on top of trends. “According to our experience, the three days of sales in each month account for 70-75% of a client’s monthly sales.”

Smart Spending: Wise Resource Allocation Drives Sales

With expertise in data, the team found that the 80/20 rule applies to a brand’s e-commerce operation. First, 20% of the items will bring in 80% of the sales. Second, 20% of the sales days contribute to 70-80% of monthly sales. Therefore, advertising resource allocation is the top priority of the HH Galaxy team in addition to product selection.

Previously, a big FMCG brand client chose a single celebrity endorsement strategy, hoping to drive sales in all categories in the Double 11 shopping season. Yet the performance was far from satisfying. “This year, my advice to this client was resource allocation. Instead of splurging all budgets on one celebrity, they can collaborate with different KOLs for different categories and share their campaigns with consumers in late October.” As a result, this client saw steady sales growth with a 30-40% increase compared to the same period last year.

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Integration Creates Greater Growth Momentum

Currently, HH Galaxy is working on integrating, and aligning all functions across sales, advertising, warehousing and logistics, and CRM together. “Ultimately, we will have the same KPI, which is to help our customers achieve their sales goals. Horizontal integration will boost and strengthen our services. The power of integration resembles the ‘boxing combo’ in Japanese manga. When different moves are combined, they will burst out with unexpectedly strong power.”

Horizontal organizational integration will become a great advantage for HH Galaxy. When a sales rep finds that a client’s product bundle (e.g. product A + product B) was not selling as expected, and they would like to experiment with a new bundle (such as product A + product C). “Such an idea can be tested and verified the next day. We can do that immediately because the shipping and logistics are seamlessly integrated and handled by us.” In contrast, if the e-commerce operation and logistics are contracted with different companies, it might take up to two weeks from idea to execution.

“E-commerce is a battlefield where every second counts. Timely verification and adjustment not only save costs but drive better sales results. In addition to modifying the contents of product bundles, HH Galaxy is capable of real-time inventory scheduling. “We have an internal inventory allocation system connecting with all major e-commerce platforms. This system redistributes inventory figures on each platform every 30 minutes, automatically allocating goods to the most hot-selling platforms without manual adjustments.”

The same logic applies to advertising. “Our team will do sales forecast for clients. If we expect the sales to grow in the first 10 days of this month, yet the sales are lower than expected, we can adjust the contents of the campaign or the ads in a timely fashion. If the click rate of an ad is high but conversions are low, we may need to adjust the product offerings. And if the click rate is low, we can replace it with new materials for another shot.”

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Post-Covid Consumer Behavior: Concentrated Orders

Gutz observed that after the pandemic, consumers are making orders more intensively than in the past. “According to data from several main campaigns earlier this year, consumers were less obsessed with countless shopping festivals. Before this year’s Double 11 event, people were generally pessimistic about this year’s sales growth. Lifting lockdown is one of the reasons; hiking interest rates is another reason, as consumers might have less disposable income than in previous years. This year’s sales data showed that consumers would wait for the best timing and make purchases within 1 or 2 days.”

With such insight, Gutz shares his marketing advice for next year: “For the next Double 11 event, I would recommend early spreading on key promotions, reaching your customers in advance. Let them know what your campaigns are, and choose your products as one of the items they would buy like crazy.”

The HH Galaxy team agrees that interpreting historical sales data is the key to future e-commerce development. As an e-commerce agency, HH Galaxy partners with 30+ e-commerce platforms and serves 100+ brands. “Everyone believes in data. Insights await discovery. We invested lots of resources in cross-departmental integration, seeking insights hidden in data. We want to apply these findings to our service to better serve our clients and drive their sales,” said Ethan Shaw, Director of Platform & Digital Media of HH Galaxy.

HH Galaxy established its management department with two primary goals: service process optimization and insight discovery through historical sales data. Since 2020, HH Galaxy has developed the Real-time Inventory Synchronization System, Sales Database, and Shopee Smart Segment Broadcasting System. Such integration provides clients with real-time data, proactively reminds them to track KPIs, and helps find effective sales and marketing strategies.

Real-time Inventory Synchronization System: a Hidden Strong Card for Brands

In the e-commerce battlefield, inventory deployment between different platforms determines the success of a business. Brands want to avoid a situation where there are no items available on platform A, yet still many items in stock on platform B. It might be more advantageous for brands if the inventory could automatically move from platform B to platform A.

HH Galaxy’s Real-time Inventory Synchronization System was born to resolve such concerns. The system now supports all major online shopping platforms, such as Momo, Yahoo, Shopee, 91app, etc. This system automatically redistributes the actual inventory quantity from the warehouse to each e-commerce platform.

Automation significantly reduces human errors. In the case of national holidays or long weekends, the system can prevent lost sales due to untimely adjustments of human labor. “The system automatically reallocates to keep items in stock on hot-selling platforms. It also suggests clients do a marketing campaign if an item’s days sales in inventory (DSI) are high,” said a Project Manager of HH Galaxy.

New Tool Pairs with New Mindset: Unlocking Brands’ E-commerce Potential

In addition to inventory status, HH Galaxy provides its clients with instant access to the most crucial information–sales performance. With years of experience in performance-based advertising analysis, HH Galaxy teams up with three major e-commerce platforms to create one-stop visualization reports for clients.

Each client will have their own Dashboard, which integrates search ads data from Google, Facebook, and Shopee, as well as sales data from Momo, PChome, and the brand’s official site. The Dashboard shows indicators such as sales revenues, average order value (AOV), and conversion rates, enabling clients to compare the real-time performance on each platform and grasp the key to growth.

The overview of daily order and sales data is helpful, however, such historical data is now set in stone, unamenable to adaptation. HH Galaxy goes above and beyond. The team aims to analyze order purchase data to accurately predict future customer behavior, providing their brand clients with targeted marketing to create greater value.

For example, order analysis may bring out these insights: a sales representative would suggest selling product bundles when they find many customers tend to purchase lipstick and eye&lip makeup remover together. When they find eyeshadows and lipsticks in rosy colors are popular among customers, they can target specific customers in future product launches.

Another example might be when a customer buys diapers, clients can quickly target the customer with related products such as baby bottles and pacifiers. For those repeat purchase products such as 30-count diapers, we can offer next-order discount codes or coupons, or remind customers to replenish larger-size diapers as their babies grow.

With order data at hand, we can leverage such insights. “CRM is an old story, yet few truly apply CRM to drive sales. The silos between the team doing the e-commerce business and the team developing the analysis tools were the problem. In addition to finding partnerships, we address our own business needs by effectively integrating CRM tools, ”said the HH Galaxy team. At present, HH Galaxy is working hand in hand with increasingly more clients, together, they analyze and interpret the data and explore promising business opportunities.

Shopee Smart Segment Broadcasting System

A customer’s purchase history hides future business opportunities. The “chat” feature on Shopee is an excellent marketing channel. After analyzing order data gathered from Shopee, the HH Galaxy team segments customers and conducts personalized marketing via chat.

For example, a pet food brand launched a new product for dogs with specific diseases. When a customer makes an order, the brand will proactively share vet-provided pet care information via chat. “We provide not just the product information but a comprehensive nutrition plan for pet owners to better take care of their dogs.” Previously, brands were also willing to share such information with pet owners. However, traditional untargeted broadcasting was ineffective and disturbing. With the targeted segment broadcasting system powered by HH Galaxy, brands are seeing positive customer feedback.

In essence, they sent the right message to the right person at the right time. Next, HH Galaxy will continue exploring the use and interpretation of data. “We can not only use information such as order amount and frequency but also pair with a brand’s domain knowledge. Or we can propose corresponding campaigns for low contributors to boost their spending. Ultimately, we will combine brand knowledge with e-commerce tools, helping our clients deliver better results.”

The HH Galaxy team completed the integration and launch of the sales database within just eight months. They also carried out the integration of the Shopee CRM system in about a month. Their next step is to help clients organize and analyze data on their brand-selling site. “In our initial testing at Shopee official shops, the return on ad spend (ROAS) was 15-17. We look forward to partnering with brands to unlock more secrets behind the data.”

Brands tend to focus on cutting costs in logistics. However, quality logistics services can help brands lower order cancellations and, in turn, boost sales. Derek Wang, the Logistics Director of HH Galaxy, said “during the main campaign periods, the first 24 hours are critical for order shipments. If shipments postpone by one day, it could lead to a 5-10% cancellation rate.”

The logistics team at HH Galaxy had been gearing up for the annual buying spree as early as August, three months ahead of the 2022 Double 11 shopping festival. They outlined well-thought plans on logistics and accomplished the mission: shipping within 24 hours.

How did the team take preemptive actions and seamlessly deliver?

3-month Preparation to Help Ship within 24 Hours

During the Double 11 festival, e-commerce platforms would launch different daily campaigns. When a customer places an order on platform A and sees another campaign (perhaps with better discounts) on platform B the next day, the customer will likely cancel their order on platform A. “The key task for an agency is to speed up package deliveries. Our goal is to ship within 24 hours after a customer placed an order,” said Derek. “Reducing order cancellation rates equals increasing sales for clients! ”

However, such a goal was easier said than done. The order volumes during the Double 11 event could be a hundredfold or thousandfold than usual. To help their clients drive better sales, the HH Galaxy logistics team had been preparing themselves three months ahead.

Derek shared the four pillars of effective logistics planning: inventory, equipment, warehousing, and workers. “First, we need to identify the sales target, and estimate corresponding order and inventory volumes.” With a number in mind, they would assess whether the warehousing is large enough and whether the pieces of equipment are sufficient.“Our assessment indicated this year we need to double the inspection lines and enlarge the shipping space by 1.5 times.” Ultimately, HH Galaxy increased its personnel by 2.5 times to accommodate high shipping volumes during the campaign.

These four elements were seamlessly organized, yet not every e-commerce agency could deliver such execution. The HH Galaxy logistic team, which only consists of 10 people, was responsible for all processes from inventory management to order shipment and customer service. Their mission was connecting all the dots whenever a customer makes a purchase, having the goods delivered to the customer in the shortest time possible. “During the Double 11 event, we were able to ship 80% of our orders within 24 hours, and completed 99% of orders within 72 hours,” said sincerely and proudly Derek. Such performance was a remarkable achievement in the industry.

Real-time Monitoring and Batch Orders

“In addition to planning and preparation, we communicate closely with the warehouse and make dynamic adjustments during the campaign periods. We conduct real-time monitoring on orders and make multiple batch orders to the warehouse within a day.”

The order volume during the Double 11 period is the highest in a year. Yet the arrival of massive orders generally overwhelms or even paralyzes the capacity of warehouses. Quality logistics management requires an extremely high shipment volume to be converted to smaller chunks that personnel can handle within multiple days. Otherwise, a single day of orders may take up to a month to be shipped and fulfilled.

Besides multiple batch orders, HH Galaxy conducted real-time dynamic adjustments on inventory arrangement in warehouses. “When we expect a surge in orders of a particular product, we will place the inventory near the picking area. We even make it possible to receive inventory and ship packages simultaneously.” With solid support from HCT logistics, HH Galaxy enabled stable and increasingly efficient warehousing and logistics capacity.

During the campaign, the HH Galaxy logistics team even provided customized packaging for their clients’ “value-added services.” “During the main campaign period, the volume of goods is measured in tens of thousands. Preemptive planning is the key. We surely don’t have the capacity to pack 30,000 items in a day, but we can process 3,000 items every day in 10 days. This way, every e-commerce platform can have items available for order, and warehouse personnel can complete the packaging and shipping within the deadline. ” Preemptive planning and workload distribution allowed the HH Galaxy team smoothly handle large orders during the Double 11 campaign.

Logistics: Reducing Cost and Boosting Sales

If logistics planning does not align with order forecasting, overtime pay for warehouse personnel will be the top concern. When there is not enough space for warehousing, no space for goods means no goods to sell. Finally, if inventory management does not go well, the goods will expire or perish, resulting in losses. “Some of our clients partner with us because they cannot handle large shipments during critical campaigns on their own. They appreciate the value of our work.”

Derek, who has 10+ years of experience in logistics, said sincerely, “Our team has abundant experience in the industry, and we understand the aftermath when such situations happen. We strive to smooth the logistics processes for our partners, reduce order cancellation rates and help increase sales. “

“This year, I expected a 30-35% increase in order volume over the same period last year, but it turned out to be a 43% increase!” Fortunately, adequate planning and preparation helped the team embrace the Double 11 event smoothly. With a belief that reducing sales loss equals helping clients increase sales, Derek Wang and his team are building up quality logistic service at HH Galaxy.