Sitoa Global Adds to its Partnership Sites
Ken Nagy, CFA
On February 13, 2012, Sitoa Global, Inc. (STOA), the Menlo Park, California based e-commerce facilitator, engaged in the development, integration and hosting of B2C (business-to-consumer) social e-commerce sites, announced that it entered into a partnership agreement with BCLN Golf, Ltd (http://www.bclngolf.com/).
Under the new agreement, Sitoa will receive monthly hosting fees and a revenue share in return for the developing and hosting of a marketplace for online sales of BCLN’s golf apparel as well as other golf related products from US and European golf specialty companies.
Currently, BCLN is the 3rd largest golf apparel designer and retailer in Hong Kong and Mainland China with its products being only sold in pro shops located in golf courses throughout both countries.
In 2011, analysts estimate that the Chinese golf industry generated revenues of over 3 billion yuan (US$500 million) and project it to grow at over 15% per year over the next five years.
The BCLN marketplace is expected to launch in late April 2012 and represents the fourth marketplace that Sitoa will be directly hosting and managing.
Furthermore, on February 8, 2012, Sitoa announced it entered into a strategic partnership with ShopShip2PH. ShopShip2PH is specifically designed for Overseas Foreign Workers from the Philippines that are living overseas for employment.
Under the partnership, Sitoa will receive monthly hosting fees and revenue share in return for its Focused Social Marketplace platform being utilized to launch an e-commerce marketplace that permits products to be purchased online and then shipped directly to the Philippines.
The marketplace will feature competitively priced products, compared to what Philippine based specialty importers can attain them for, that are available outside the Philippines.
The site is expected to launch by April 1st, 2012 and has an initial commitments for 1,100 products including merchandises from product partners; Fragrancenet.com, Troika (Germany), Philippi (Germany) and Palm Beach Jewelry.
What’s more, the product lineup for the marketplace is targeted to be over 3,000 by year-end.
Similarly, through Sitoa’s partnership with the 2nd largest shipping company in the Philippines, LBC Express (www.lbcexpress.com), LBC will market the ShopShip2PH website to its 2 million Overseas Foreign Worker customers as well as permit them to use membership points to redeem for products bought online through ShopShip2PH.
It should be noted that analysts estimate that approximately 11 percent of the Philippines population or between 8.6 million and 11 million Overseas Foreign Workers are living outside the Philippines resulting in an estimated yearly economic impact of approximately $19 billion in remittances sent back to the Philippines from abroad.
The Company has already developed and is currently maintaining and hosting Sonsi.com, a focused social marketplace, which has collected a number of online sellers focused on the social community for women’s sizes 12 and up.
Additionally, during its third quarter fiscal 2011, Sitoa launched its bi-lingual Focused Social Marketplace in China, Chunjie365 (chunjie365.com) is a social e-commerce site in China. The site focuses on consumer and corporate online customers looking to purchase rare and unique U.S. specialty products and Chinese gift items.
Furthermore, it should be noted that due to China’s ecommerce market’s climbing sales and large scope and demographic, Sitoa intends to launch additional marketplaces in China within the next eighteen months.
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