After immigrating to the U.S. from Wuhan, China, in 2003, Larry Liu, Weee’s founder and CEO, struggled to find Asian groceries in Northern California, often driving an hour or more to find familiar food and flavors. About a decade later, when WeChat started to gain popularity among Chinese immigrants, Liu recalled how one mom in a WeChat group he was in convinced a fisherman in the San Francisco Bay Area to catch, clean and deliver an order of $10,000 worth of fish to his neighborhood.
“Everyone was so happy, and once they got the fish, they cooked, made dishes and then they posted the pictures in the group,” he said. The excitement that surrounded this purchase coupled with the lack of accessible and affordable Asian groceries sparked the idea for Weee.
Soon after he got his green card, Liu said he quit his engineering job and founded Weee in 2015.
Currently, the e-grocer serves more than 120,000 households across five states and boasts nearly 5.2 million order fulfillments since 2017. The company has seen 700% revenue growth year-over-year and already achieved profitability in an industry known for its thin profit margins.
Weee also offers free, scheduled delivery on orders over $35 — an amount “significantly” lower than the average amount ($250) a customer will spend per month. In 2017, Weee launched its mobile app for iPhone and Android, which has seen more than 420,000 downloads, according to the company’s website.
Additionally, Weee encourages customers to upload videos of recipes and favorite foods to its app through a TikTok-like feature. Shoppers can buy snacks and ingredients featured in those videos with a click of a button. They get discounts if they refer a friend or family member and can share custom coupons for the items they recently purchased.
Today, Weee sells more than 10,000 products, from cuisine-specific items such as kimchi and frozen shrimp dumplings to staples like milk, bananas and chicken breasts. Shoppers can browse the company’s website and app in different languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean or Spanish. On the app, shoppers can also order takeout from more than 1,000 restaurants.
According to grocerydive.com; cnbc.com. Source of photos: internet
