“My mindset is old-school compared to some of the new entrepreneurs who are a lot more aggressive and confident,” said Ku, 53, recounting the slow, careful way he built up Qoo10.

The Lion City’s e-commerce industry was valued at US$4 billion last year and is projected to see double-digit growth over the next few years, reaching the S$10 billion (US$7.4 billion) level by 2022, according to payments technology firm Worldpay.

Such promises of riches have attracted a slew of new players, among which the relatively diminutive Qoo10 can look like a David in a land of more deep-pocketed Goliaths.

Lazada, for instance, has raised US$4 billion in funding since 2013, while Shopee, another Singapore-based rival, raised more than US$1.5 billion in March alone. By comparison, Qoo10 has raised just US$230 million from investors since its inception, despite being backed by eBay.

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Its competitors also dwarf it in terms of size of workforce, with Lazada and Shopee each employing more than 8,000 people across the region, while Qoo10 has only 600.

Yet Ku’s brainchild remains Singapore’s most popular e-commerce site. During the first quarter of this year, it had more than 7.9 million visitors, ahead of Lazada’s 7.4 million and Shopee’s 2.5 million.

“We have been building our business much longer,” Ku said, in reference to both Qoo10 and its South Korean predecessor Gmarket. “We have been doing this for almost 18 years, so we don’t need to depend on big marketing campaigns or social media, or by lowering prices like other platforms … we keep improving, updating, and improving our platform.”

Localisation is the secret to Qoo10’s success, according to Trevor Yu, an associate professor at Nanyang Business School. “They may be backed by a multinational conglomerate like eBay, but they make a concerted effort to customise their customer experience to fit local tastes and online buying habits,” he said.

Sarah Cheah, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Business School, agrees.

“They started off as a local player, they had a certain advantage in familiarity with local consumers and preferences,” she said. “For a small company like them, they are more willing to bring in smaller orders and sign up merchants with smaller volumes. On the other hand, due to their large size, bigger companies are more likely to need a certain volume to justify their participation.”

A business model built on ensuring efficient logistics, service and delivery was also important, Cheah said.

“This contrasts with new regional players who focus on grabbing market share at the expense of their operations,” she said. “So instead of ensuring that there is high efficiency in their operations, they use incentives such as discounts to attract customers to join them but in a manner that is not necessarily profitable nor sustainable.”

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In Malaysia, where Lazada and Shopee are the most visited e-commerce sites, the market was worth US$1.31 billion last year and is expected to hit US$2.53 billion by 2022, according to online statistics database Statista.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, where local e-commerce platforms such as Tokopedia and Bukalapak reign, the market was valued at US$17 billion in 2017, and is projected to reach US$55-65 billion by 2022, according to management consulting firm McKinsey.

However, Ku is confident of future growth. “A huge reason we sold Qoo10 Japan [the Japanese arm of the business acquired by eBay in February] was to focus on the rest of Southeast Asia,” he said.

“The reality is that it’s still very early, though. Southeast Asia has 650 million people, and their e-commerce market is about US$25 billion altogether. South Korea has 50 million people, and I always thought the market was too small – but its e-commerce market is worth US$100 billion.

“There is a lot of potential in Southeast Asia. It’s fast growing, but the base is very small. Even after five more years of growth, it will become like just one-sixth that of the Korean market.”

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Beyond the expansion drive, Ku has aspirations for Qoo10 to go public, though he said the firm would take its time to do so.

“We aren’t ready [for an initial public offering] yet in terms of the size of the business, as well as the foundation of the market,” he said. “We are well-placed in Singapore, but Singapore as a whole is too small to convince more investors to get involved. But we do expect to apply by 2021.”

As for the entry of its colossal competitors, Ku said the more the merrier.

“I wouldn’t say we are David or Goliath right now. If not for them, there would be no one spending billions building the infrastructure for delivery, payment and other things,” he said.

“In a way this region needs this kind of sensible investment for the big picture.” ■