Yamibuy

Yamibuy was founded by Alex Zhou, a Chinese student attending the Kansas State University. During his studies, Zhou was frustrated by the scarcity and price of Chinese goods in the United States; as noted by the South China Morning Post, Zhou was forced to make a two-hour drive to Kansas city in order to procure authentic goods from China. This and other logistical realities frustrated Zhou, and led to the-then student conceiving of a company that could market Asian goods online.[1][2]

Zhou graduated from the Kansas State University in 2013, after which he moved to Los Angeles to formulate the idea for an e-commerce website which could be used to market and distribute imports from China. He raised 50,000 dollars, and officially established Yamibuy in March 2013. As noted by the South China Morning Post, the new company filled a niche in the stunted market for Chinese goods as two large China-based suppliers, Alibaba and JD.com, did not import Chinese goods into other countries. As such, most Asian supermarkets in the United States imported goods directly from suppliers in China. Zhou's early efforts to gain direct access to these suppliers on behalf of Yamibuy included visiting Asian supermarkets and taking notes on the names of potential suppliers.[1] He then contacted these companies and directly opened business accounts with them, allowing for Yamibuy (which Zhou was operating out of a warehouse) direct access to imported goods. The company then sold these goods in an online marketplace.[1] Using this method of sale, the website gained popularity among Chinese Americans and Chinese students studying in American colleges.[1]

Following its founding, the company grew rapidly, and by 2018 was handling $100 million in transactions a year.[1] Some sources attributed the company's growth to Yamibuy emulating the business practices of larger, China-based companies which tie social media notifications with product purchases.[1][3]