How a couple from Russia makes money in the USA by selling seats in tourists' suitcases - ForumDaily
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Переклад цього матеріалу українською мовою з російської було автоматично здійснено сервісом Google Translate, без подальшого редагування тексту.
Bu məqalə Google Translate servisi vasitəsi ilə avtomatik olaraq rus dilindən azərbaycan dilinə tərcümə olunmuşdur. Bundan sonra mətn redaktə edilməmişdir.

How a couple from Russia makes money in the USA by selling seats in tourists' suitcases

Spouses Daria Rebenok and Artem Fedyaev launched a service in San Francisco that helps to get goods that are unavailable in the country by ordering from travelers. The idea was born when the entrepreneurs themselves could not find their favorite Spanish wine in California. Now 35 thousands of orders per month are placed on their platform. For example, you can bring a piece of parmesan from Europe and make money on delivery from ten dollars, or you can start shipping a macbook from the USA and get 117 dollars from it. However, for starters, you will have to buy it for your money - a blocked amount will be written off from the customer’s account only if the transaction is successful.

Photo the-village.ru/Grabr

The number of people who want to make money on delivery is growing; American business publications are writing about a startup of Russian origin. The final reason is a new round of investment in 8 million dollars. The Village talked with the founders of the company about how their business is developing and who is ready to sell space in their suitcase.

Idea

ARTEM: The idea came about three years ago. Then we lived in San Francisco: since 2012, we worked there on another startup in the field of virtual reality.

DARIA: We got married before the move. Artyom came to the valley from New York, he studied there at the faculty of finance and international business. I lived in Moscow, graduated from the HSE with a degree in global economics and international relations. When we arrived, we began to learn everything from the very beginning. Artem Kodil and design, I also studied design, product management and marketing. We are self taught.

ARTEM: We traveled a lot, our parents live on different continents. And sometimes in America we lack the products we are used to elsewhere. Spain is our third home, I lived there, studied, we met there and often go there. Three years ago we decided to buy inexpensive and tasty Spanish wine in San Francisco. It turned out that it is not sold in the United States.

We remembered that, each time arriving from Russia and other countries, we bring goods for friends and relatives, sometimes with whole suitcases. Then we thought: why not create such a service? Friends and colleagues in the valley advised us to try and launch a test page to see how people responded. But we still doubted. As a result, one of our business angels persuaded to take a small amount and start a project. In 2016, we left the previous startup and switched to Grabr. For the first eight months, we assembled a team, did tests, and a little more than two years ago we launched an application on all platforms.

Photo the-village.ru/Grabr

Markets

ARTEM: Last month, users placed 35 thousands of orders and delivered tens of thousands of goods. In just two years, thousands of people have become 492 users of the service. We deliver goods to 58 countries of the world. The largest markets are Argentina, Brazil, and orders most often come from there. In second place - Russia and Peru. Most goods are brought from America - this is 95% flow.

DARIA: Often people ask to bring electronics. But they also order items from Amazon, eBay and other American stores: clothing, children's products, sports goods and vitamins. All that in another country is more expensive or not at all for sale. Some Russians order sanctions products from Europe, but not as much as we expected. Sometimes they ask to bring Italian cheese and jamon from Spain, because by law individuals can transport these goods. For them, there are generally different standards than for courier services and trading companies. Therefore, we can deliver faster and cheaper.

Photo the-village.ru/Grabr

How it works

ARTEM: Grabr Not an online store or delivery service. We do not transfer parcels and do not allow to transport goods purchased in advance. This is a marketplace that makes it possible to find a personal shopper in any country so that he can buy something and bring it. Having accepted the order, the traveler goes to the store, finds the right product and spends his money. At the same time, the indicated amount is blocked on the customer’s account - it goes to the grabber’s account after he delivers the necessary goods in one piece and on time. We do not guarantee delivery: we simply provide service and secure transaction through PayPal or other services.

Previously, people agreed with each other themselves, now we have entered the recommended delivery price - it is considered the same algorithm as in Uber. This increased the conversion three times, because people do not need to bargain.

Travelers earn an average of 15 – 20% of each order. The algorithm calculates the reward depending on the type of product and country. One item is one transaction. The average transaction amount we have is 135 dollars. But people order more than one product. An entire basket can cost 1 – 3 thousands of dollars. On average, in all markets, the traveler receives about 150 dollars, in Russia the amount is higher.

Some travelers, who fly once or twice a month, carry suitcases and earn a thousand dollars for a trip. Others take ten orders each and get 300 – 500 dollars per trip. But most often people come to bring a few items to try the service, they earn 150 dollars per trip.

DARIA. We publish training materials for grabbers, give them recommendations, answer questions. We want quality and mutual respect. At the same time, we do not work with private parcels and do not recommend people to transport documents, primarily from the point of view of security. I think when the platform becomes large and we can guarantee the integrity, safety and security of delivery, we will add this option. But it will not happen soon.

ARTEM: We also fly frequently and use the service every time. Once I bought sneakers and was wrong with the size, changed them through Amazon and then passed along with a friend. The most interesting thing that I drove to Russia - ring Tiffany, the customer was going to make an offer to the girl. It was great, I earned 700 dollars on one delivery, paid them a ticket. Ten days later we were flying to Buenos Aires, carrying an 3D printer to one artist, I even ordered a special suitcase for him.

Photo the-village.ru/Grabr

Problems on the road

ARTEM: There are difficulties in different countries. For example, people use other payment systems, not everyone has a credit card, not everyone has a limit - we want to create our own payment system and are looking for developers in Moscow for this. Often there are problems with the delivery time. The application has a messenger - you can negotiate with the customer. For example, if the travel date shifts by a month, you can return the goods to the store.

We comply with all laws on import and customs control: in each country there are limits on the transport of goods by an individual, in money and quantity. For example, in Peru, you can bring as many computers or phones as you like - the main thing is to keep a thousand dollars. Our system tells a person if he has scored too many orders and he may have problems entering. He decides whether to take the risk, but so far there have been no problems with customs.

In this case, we have no exchange of goods. Travelers are fully responsible for the purchased items: if something breaks, gets lost along the way, turns out to be the wrong color, they will not receive their money.

Photo pastemagazine.com

Team and investment

ARTEM: Last year we closed the planting round, at the beginning of the year - a new round of 8 million dollars. Participated in it Foundation capital and a lot of interesting people, we attracted several new funds and business angels from companies like Square and Yelp and very pleased with the result. In total, more than 14 millions of dollars have been invested in the company for all the time. Money goes to the development team and increase sales. Plus, we are interested in new markets - I hope we will start up in India in the summer.

DARIA: We have a distributed team of 37 people: development, design and marketing in Moscow, offices in New York and San Francisco, support services in Buenos Aires and remote employees around the world. We are free people and we travel a lot, we encourage employees to do this: it’s not so important where a person lives, it’s important that we are on the same wavelength.

ARTEM: At first we thought that we would have a technology company that only develops the application. Now developers make up only a third of the staff, most of all in support services, which work with customers all over the world. And this team will grow, as our audience is active and sociable, it asks a lot of questions.

We earn a commission, which now amounts to 7% of the order, but we will soon introduce different prices in different markets, we will offer additional services. We are still a startup, and we do not have a goal to make a profit, everything is built on revenue growth: they must grow faster than expenses. Last year we made deals on 10 million dollars and we are trying to grow by 20 – 30% per month - this is our main goal.

Grabr Facts

service for shopping abroad through travelers

DATE OF BASE - 2016 Year

TOTAL SHIPPING AMOUNT IN 2017 YEAR - 10 million dollars

 

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