Iprice Group, a Malaysia-based online price comparison service for shoppers, has received a $550,000 cash investment from an angel investor venture capital group.
Founded only last October, the business is already active in its home base Malaysia, along with Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. The company says its online traffic is more than doubling every month.
The US$550,000 in funding was invested by from Asia Venture Group, a Malaysia-based angel investor, which wants to help Iprice create “the largest online shopping community in Southeast Asia”.
Iprice co-founder Heinrich Wendel says the idea of the website is to create “a delightful online shopping experience” by giving shoppers an intuitive and visual way to discover products.
“Whereas other sites in the space are all about comparing prices, we focus on narrowing down the vast amount of products to your personal preference. No matter you are looking for a blue and black dress, three-inch high heels, a solid backpack or a classic Chesterfield sofa, we will show you where you can get the best offer.”
As the young Internet population in the region is growing by more than 50 per cent within the next three years – according to a report by UBS – it will drive eCommerce volume at least five-fold by 2020. Tapping into this potential, the website already offers more than 3 million products from over 10,000 local and international brands, sourced through trusted online stores.
Shoppers browse through the millions of products by categories, brands, models and colours, amongst other attributes, to get inspiration. All products are automatically linked to special promotions and coupons that are offered by the respective eCommerce stores. In the future, the company says it will double down on its machine learning algorithms to further improve the “smart search” and provide individual recommendations according to the user’s browsing behaviour.
Operating from its Kuala Lumpur headquarters, the company employs talent from all over Southeast Asia, enabling them to address the needs of each local market individually.
For eCommerce stores, iprice provides invaluable expertise in online marketing, helping them to expand their reach to new markets and grow their customer base. Tito Costa, Zalora Group MD, says he recognises iprice as a strong affiliate partner.
“Iprice helps online shoppers to find what they have been looking for and to discover new products. They send high converting traffic to Zalora across the Southeast Asia region and drive our revenue significantly,” he said.
