Following is a question and answer session we had for an upcoming magazine article. We get the same questions often so hopefully this will be useful for some of you!
When was harilo established?
Harilo was conceived in the summer of 2010 and the summer was spent strategizing, recruiting, and coding while the website was in private beta. The company was officially registered in August 2010 and the website went live and opened to the public at the same time.
Who founded harilo?
Harilo has four founders - Akshay Sthapit, Kim Smith, Tom Handcock, and Brian Smith.
What was the main reason behind starting harilo?
We got tired of asking friends to bring items back from abroad were looking to create a way for people in Nepal to get goods that much of the world takes for granted. While online shopping has become an everyday thing in many countries, it seemed unfortunate that the infrastructure to accommodate people in Nepal had been left out and Harilo was formed to fill that gap. Harilo offers that bridge that connects Nepal to the world of online shopping.
How many employees does harilo have?
We have 10 employees in Nepal and 3 employees in Florida.
What kind of employees does harilo recruit?
Harilo is a thriving start-up based out of Kathmandu. Our work environment is fun and flexible while also ruthlessly focused on excellence and customer success. Our growing company offers lots of opportunities for hyper talented, self-motivated, no-drama and no-nonsense individuals. We favor young, energetic and tech savvy people.
How does harilo carry out it's business?
Harilo is a supply chain that connects Nepal to the world of Online Shopping. Our services allow people in Nepal to buy goods from U.S. retailers, and pay with Nepali rupees (or US dollars). We then ship the goods to Kathmandu & pay customs and V.A.T. for you - packages can be tracked online through our website. Our service is a safe, fun way to enjoy the enormous selection of goods available in the U.S. marketplace right from your computer. You can buy from popular U.S. retail websites, from eBay Buy It Now and even from U.S. wholesalers.
What is the feedback from the users of harilo's service?
We don’t do much advertising and much of our service has grown from word of mouth. Feedback to our service has been very positive as you can see from reviews at http://harilo.com/reviews, testimonials at http://harilo.com/testimonials, and press coverage at http://harilo.com/press. Our challenge is to maintain the same level of service as our business grows.
What is the motto of harilo?
Harilo’s tagline is “Nepal’s Biggest Selection” since we allow anyone in Nepal to shop from any retailer in the United States, Europe, and Hong Kong and pay with Nepali rupees.
What are the targets/aims of harilo?
Our target is to open up the world of international online shopping to everyone in Nepal and provide the biggest selection of goods, the cheapest prices, and the friendliest customer service in the country.
Has harilo been able to achieve it's targets yet?
Our initial target was to establish trust with people since we are a startup and we feel like we have been successful with that. We are now focusing on growth.
What problems were there when setting up harilo?
Our biggest challenge was establishing trust with the Nepali community since we are a startup and online shopping requires payment upfront. A lot of people were worried that we would take their money and vanish! The word “internet business” has negative connotations with many people in Nepal so we had to address that perception in the beginning.
Was government helpful?
Unfortunately our government is not helpful towards startups and even less towards technology companies. This is ironic since technology and software can and should be a big economy growth engine in a country like Nepal with limited resources. Instead the government would not let us register “Harilo.com” and insisted on having us register as “Harilo Dot Com”, requires approval for having electronic receipts, and has arcane rules regarding invoice numbering. In contrast I have done a tech startup in the United States where the system is setup to make startups an easy process since the government understands that it is important for the economy that founders can focus on startup success instead of worrying about bureaucracies. In Nepal any success will come in spite of the government and not because of it.
How much of a headache is loadshedding?
We don't have many electricity issues because we have a backup power supply that powers the whole office. We lease server space from Amazon and all customer data and order information is safely backed up in the cloud so we are able to work with one laptop per employee and we have tried to make our business as paperless and cloud based as possible so work can go on even with load shedding and bandhs. Of course, we wish all of our customers had 24/7 power so they could shop online anytime and not just when the power is on!
What are the future plans of harilo?
We are working on expanding our service to other cities of Nepal besides Kathmandu. We would also like to start ocean freight to help customers who wish to order IKEA furniture and bulky items. Harilo mail is a new service that allows our customers to have their own US address and receive mail and packages at their personal address (harilo.com/mail). We also recently introduced a personal shopper service (harilo.com/shopper) - we will go to a store and buy an “in store special” or items that are not available online.
How good is the market in Nepal?
Since few products are manufactured in Nepal almost everything that people consume has to be imported - Harilo’s aim is to provide a bigger selection of goods to import at cheaper prices so we think Nepal is a good market for a business that imports goods.
How much online shopping do Nepalese do?
We have seen a large increase in online shopping from 2010, as Nepalese want fair, fixed prices and as shopping in person gets to be a bigger and bigger hassle.
Has the rate of online shopping in Nepal increased in last few years?
The rate of online shopping has increased as Nepalese become more aware of the huge selection of goods offered worldwide.
If yes, what would you assume could be the reasons behind it?
Global brand awareness, international warranties, trust in online retailers, huge selection and cheaper and fair prices are all contributing factors for the increase in online shopping.
I walked into an Apple store in the U.S. today and saw a curious sight - hordes of chinese tourists buying up all the iPhones, iPads, Mac minis and any Apple product they could get their hands on. One of them triumphantly held 5 boxes of new iPhone 4Ss. Even though all Apple products are made in China, Apple has cleverly been able to control their supply and pricing in a way that they are able to convince Chinese consumers to fly half way around the world to buy products made in their own backyard. Funny how globalization works.
This is the clearest explanation of SOPA and PIPA that I have come across yet. Think it's not relevant to you? Then think again (or watch the video below) because using the new laws (which hopefully will not get passed) sites like google, facebook, wikipedia, vimeo, cnn and yes, even harilo could get shut down.
Upload to your server and voila - your site has a SSL certificate so now traffic back and forth is encrypted and safe from packet sniffers and other prying eyes. If you are worried about security on Harilo (you shouldn't since our site only lists your orders and all payments and credit card processing is done on 3rd party sites such as Amazon, Google, PayPal, Alertpay, NIBL etc.) feel free to use our https version at https://www.harilo.com/signin
We're happy to announce that the Harilo personal shopper fee has been dropped from $14 to just $9! For those that don't know what it is, for just $9 extra per store, a Harilo staff will personally go to a store in Florida and order and pick up your items for you! Picked up items will then be put in the next shipment to KTM that leaves every Tuesday. More details are at http://harilo.com/shopper - you're welcome!
Came across this awesome post today at http://www.xkcd.com/936. Harilo encrypts all your passwords so even if our server was compromised (which would tough since the only way to do that would be to get access to a dev's ~/.ssh/id_rsa file or be able to break the OpenSSH protocol in which case there's probably a bigger and better job waiting for that person at Google or the CIA) your password would still be safe which is important since most people use the same passwords on multiple sites.
So as per the infographic what you should worry about is having a weak password that is easy to guess - so choose an intelligent password, for Harilo and other sites that you use, and stay safe everyone!
Happy New Year everyone! Hope everyone has a fantastic 2012. My New Year's resolution is to get more sleep, be healthier, and spend more time with friends and family. What’s your resolutions for 2012?
"A whopping 99.5% of domestic airlines’ checked bags are picked up by their owners at the baggage carousel. Roughly ½ of 1% don’t arrive with the passengers. Five days later, an impressive 95% of those delayed bags find their way home. That’s a great track record considering the 100’s of millions of flights and passengers that criss-cross the country and the globe every day.
An intense 3-month search process reunites over half of the remaining bags with the happy passengers. Claims are paid to the astonishingly small fraction of a percent of owners whose bags are never found.
Only after these exhaustive attempts to reunite the luggage with the owners do the airlines call in the crew from Unclaimed Baggage Center.
Unclaimed Baggage Center is under contract with airlines and other transportation companies to purchase the luggage that can’t be traced to the owners. Truckloads of lost luggage are transported to Scottsboro, Alabama, sight unseen."
After everything is said and done they receive 20,000 items per day! Check them out at http://unclaimedbaggage.com
I had an interesting email exchange with a NRN that wanted to send gifts back to Nepal using Harilo. It looks like we are not doing a good job of explaining how easy it is to use Harilo for NRNs so I'm pasting our email exchange below. Please let us know if there's anything we can do to make our site easier to use for NRNs in the comments below.
Email 1 On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 1:28 PM, Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx <xxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com> wrote:
CAN WE PAY FROM USA TO SEND SOME ITEMS TO Nepal from usa. I didn’t find the pay by credit card in your how to pay tab. Would u be able to tell about that.
You can pay using your credit card by clicking on "Google Checkout". To make sure your payment is approved quickly we recommend that you use your billing address for your shipping address. Thanks.
Email 3 On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 10:57 PM, Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx <xxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com> wrote:
Dear Akshay,
Thanks for the reply, But I still have a question for u. I tried to do with amazon check out and unfortunately I can make the billing address my shipping address. If I had to do that, I would buy from the company directly. Why should I ask for your help. I am sending the stuff to Nepal!! I found many options to pay if u are in Nepal and want merchandise from USA. But I am not convinced to pay from USA and send the stuff to Nepal. I would recommend to start that one, it would be a great part in your business, if I have understood your policy right.
Regards
Email 4 From: Akshay Sthapit <sthapit@harilo.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 8:57 AM
Subject: Re: hOW TO PAY WITH VISA CARD
Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx <xxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com>
Checking out from Google Checkout, Amazon Payments, Paypal, Alert Pay, Credit Cards (which we all accept) are for the purposes of payment only. Once we receive payment we will purchase the goods for you and ship them to Nepal. If you entered a Nepal shipping address then your payment is likely to be declined by google checkout etc.
We have many NRNs shipping packages to their friends and family back to Nepal in this way.
I came across this great website today at http://www.hellobrit.com whose mission is to help you "discover innovative products and ideas to live more simply, beautifully, and creatively"
"Started by Brittany Morin, Brit is a lifestyle brand that seeks to curate and create innovative new ways for busy, but inspired people to live more simply, beautifully and creatively. The goal is to show people how to add order to the chaos of their daily lives in a fun, easy and elegant way."
Our secret to making sure orders are received in KTM without any breakage? We pack sensitive items in wood boards before they get shipped! Pic shows one of the many pieces that was shipped from FLorida yesterday - great job with the packing Kim!
We will be performing an automatic database maintenance during the window below:
Start: 2011-12-13 00:00 UTC
End: 2011-12-13 01:00 UTC
This is part of a regular maintenance schedule to make sure the site is optimized and runs efficiently. Harilo is expected to be unavailable for around 15 minutes between the start time and end times listed above. Please wait till the window is completed before contacting support.
The window in local Kathmandu time is 5:45 AM to 6:45 AM Tuesday December 13, 2011. Thanks!
The results are out, and they're not very good. We rank 154 out of 182 in the world for corruption according to Transparency International. Time to buckle up people! Being better than North Korea, Somalia, Myanmar, Iraq, and Afghanistan is nothing to celebrate.
Amazon just announced its new holiday deals vertical this morning residing at www.amazon.com/flurrydeals. The site currently features decently discounted items as an extension of the Cyber Monday promotion. Starting today (Sunday), Amazon will begin offering category-specific daily deals.
Many of these discounts are worth a look, especially if you were planning on buying from Amazon anyway. DVDs and Blu-Rays go on sale for over 60% off. Select smart phones come with a $100 Amazon.com gift card - Not bad at all!
Apparently you can stop buying earthquake alarms and get some pet toads to do the same work for cheaper and better :)
"The BBC is reporting that a team led by Dr. Friedemann Freund from NASA and Dr. Rachel Grant from the UK's Open University have found that 'animals may sense chemical changes in groundwater that occur when an earthquake is about to strike.' Just prior to the quake that struck L'Aquila, Italy in 2009, Grant observed a mass toad exodus from a colony she was monitoring as part of her PhD project, and her published results prompted NASA to contact her as they found that highly stressed tectonic plates released a greater amount of positively charged ions that affected the water quality, which was sensed by the toads. According to NASA's Freund, 'Once we understand how all of these signals are connected, if we see four of five signals all pointing in [the same] direction, we can say, "ok, something is about to happen."'"
Techcrunch just posted a great review of the Kindle Fire for all of you on the fence about it.
"I’ve been using a Kindle Fire for the past two weeks (that is, when my kids or wife haven’t absconded to another room with it). The device passes my first test: my family fights over it. The Fire is kid-tested, and mother-approved. Fruit Ninja is the new obsession with my young children. Even my two-year-old, who loves the iPad, is increasingly eyeing the Kindle Fire and scheming ways to get her Mom out of the room so she can play with it. My wife will have none of that, she’s reading Joan Didion’s latest book on the Fire. I sneak it away from the bedside table when everyone is asleep at night to watch old episodes of Arrested Development."
Well hello. I love my iPad but updating magazine subscriptions on it are a huge hassle (I refuse to have the New Yorker app open just so I can download the latest issue which prevents me from using the iPad for anything else) so I might just get one of these to read magazines from Kathmandu... Pricing to order one of these to KTM is at http://harilo.com/deal/429/kindle-fire
I know this video is irrelevant to Harilo and so is thanksgiving for most of our customers but it's still a fun holiday and this video is inspiring! So happy thanksgiving everyone and hope this video inspires you to get off your butt and do something cool.
Apple has begun to sell unlocked versions of all iPhone 4S models in their online store as of today. The unlocked iPhone 4S will take a microSIM (even handmade ones) from any GSM provider the world over, but Apple makes it crystal clear that CDMA roaming is off-limits. It’s not a huge stumbling block considering most the of world runs on GSM.
Why should you care? The same reason we have open comments, internal comments, reviews, testimonials, a forum, twitter, and a facebook page - this will help us help you better. The more lines of communication a company has with their customers, and the more transparent and accessible a company is, the better the user experience.
