“Whoever said money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping.”
– Bo Derek
Borderlinx: delivering the Web, World Wide

The American actress, Bo Derek, is famous for a number of reasons; not least her avid love of shopping. And let’s face it; shopping is becoming an international pastime, with the ultimate shopaholic’s dream of being let loose on New York’s 5th Avenue. The choice of stores in America is heady and thrilling – Bloomingdales, Niketown, FAO Schwarz, Macy’s – the list is excitingly endless.

But a trip to the States does take planning and time out from busy lives, and shopping holidays are hardly relaxing. Borderlinx (www.borderlinx.com) has come to the rescue with a new online service for trendsetters and bargain hunters that allows access to this American shopping paradise from the comfort of their own homes! Bliss: the good people of Borderlinx should be awarded a Nobel Prize for revolutionary services to shopping.

Until now, if any one of Europe’s 174 million plus who have online access had tried to shop in America via the Web, they would probably have run into difficulties unless they had a kind States-side friend who was prepared to take delivery of these precious parcels and forward them on. This is because most US shops with an online business automatically require a US delivery address. Many businesses have tried to offer cross-border services to individual shoppers but have struggled for a number of reasons, not least because of the complex shipping, duties and customs requirements.

But listen up happy shoppers, all you have to do is become a member of Borderlinx: the site is simple, user-friendly and fiendishly clever. It is packed with helpful hints, and a friendly customer service person never far away to answer any sticky questions.

All shoppers need to do is register online with Borderlinx and they’ll be allocated a unique US address, which can then be given to the store as the address to deliver their shopping. This US address is basically a passport that gives the green light to shop online! Just try to stop us!!

Borderlinx’s only charge is a fixed price for shipping the goods, based on weight. And the more shipped, the cheaper per kilogram the service becomes. To make it easier and quicker to ship larger amounts, the member can even add the names of family and friends to the account, allowing them to order goods to be delivered to the same address. Christmas, birthday, in fact any celebration is going to be great in those households!

But perhaps most importantly, Borderlinx cleverly and conveniently sorts out one of the most confusing aspects of exporting goods: the duties and taxes. The site clearly and simply just adds it to the final Borderlinx bill – no hidden extras, just a straight-talking and user-friendly service. And they have really thought of everything to make online shopping as pain-free as possible. For instance, members can store their shopping for up to 30 days for free: this means that they can browse, surf different sites, and really enjoy the experience of checking out all the options. And once the shopping is done, members can ship all their goodies in one go at a great low cost.

The Borderlinx service gives members access to all this, without them getting either sore feet from pavement pounding, or bruised elbows from playing American football with the crowds. Pour yourself a glass of wine, kick off your shoes: surf, shop, click and Borderlinx will deliver to your door.

 
Borderlinx fact sheet
What?
Borderlinx offers a service to members living outside America to shop online in America and it organises the consolidation, duties, taxes and shipping of the goods to the member’s home. The service empowers the online consumer in quite an unprecedented way. It enables shoppers to buy the best and cheapest goods that the States can offer, whilst taking advantage of the favourable weak American dollar. In addition, it gives people the opportunity to obtain high end, newly launched goods before they are brought to market in Europe. Borderlinx democratizes globalisation by giving worldwide consumers access to great deals and products from the US – which are normally only available to US residents.

Where?
- Borderlinx puts consumers from 28 European countries in touch with e-tailers in the US,
- Borderlinx is an online company, with offices across the world. Log on to www.borderlinx.com to find out more and sign up as a member in order to use the service.

How?
The service is simple and easy to use:
- register as a member at www.borderlinx.com for just $5 and receive a unique US delivery address. Most US retailers and Ebay sellers only deliver to a US shipping address,
- shop from your favourite online stores,
- check duties and taxes before you buy using the Borderlinx TotalCost calculator,
- ship to your US shipping address,
- pay the charges (duties, taxes and shipping charges) to Borderlinx,
- and the goods will be shipped to you at your home address.

Why?
- In Europe there are 174 million online consumer and trade shoppers*
- In 2005 the European eCommerce market was worth 100 billion*
- The European eCommerce market is expected to grow to 263 billion by 2011, with some 174 consumers shopping online*
- It is estimated that eCommerce will account for 8% of total European retail sales by 2009*
* = Forrester research 2006

When?
Borderlinx was founded in 2006.

Who?
Our management team have been involved in different aspects of international logistics, shipping and eCommerce for some time - in pure transportation, import and export, and most recently e-tail fulfilment. In addition, Hans Wackwitz, Chairman, and Jose Zurstrassen, Director, are both private funders and board members of the company, and bring a wealth of banking and internet entrepreneurial expertise to the company.

Questions and answers

General Borderlinx questions:

Q1. What is Borderlinx?
A1. Borderlinx cleverly connects US e-tailers with Europe’s 174 million online consumer and trade shoppers by providing a combination of web and logistics based user-friendly solutions. Borderlinx aims to become the market leader in cross-border sales from the USA to European consumers and SMEs, with plans for rapid expansion of the service globally.

Q2. Who do you think will use Borderlinx?
A2. Borderlinx enables Europe’s on-line consumer and trade purchasers to easily shop in the US. Borderlinx aims to make this service available in other locations such as Canada, Asia Pacific and the Middle East in the not too distant future.

Q3. Why will consumers and SMEs use Borderlinx?
A3. Borderlinx’s ethos is to provide a unique and highly sophisticated logistics solution that is user-friendly, and which is backed up by full customer services support. This combination will encourage Borderlinx’s users to have the confidence to purchase from international e-tailers, and it will also provide e-tailers a ‘zero pain’ opportunity to expand their global consumer coverage.

Q4. How does Borderlinx work?
A4. Users must register with Borderlinx in order to become a member: during this registration process they will be issued with a unique US delivery address for their purchased goods to be shipped to. The majority of US based e-tailers require an US address for goods to be delivered to. The Borderlinx member is also given access to an easy-to-use online calculator to work out the total delivered cost of their goods before they buy them. This total includes shipping charges, customs duty and any relevant taxes on the goods: there are no hidden extra charges.

The consumer pays the e-tailer for the goods and requests that they are delivered to their Borderlinx shipping address. When the goods are received at the unique delivery address, Borderlinx notifies the member by e-mail, with the option of selecting to either ship immediately or consolidate their shopping for more cost effective or energy efficient shipping options.

When the user selects to ship their goods, Borderlinx requires a one-off payment for the shipping, duties and taxes – this can be done with a credit card or by PayPal. On receipt of payment, Borderlinx will despatch the goods for delivery to the member’s home address, and as duties and taxes have all been prepaid the next thing the member shopper will know, is that the goods have arrived at their address. Members benefit from Borderlinx’s expertise in customs clearance, transportation, shipping and fulfilment.

Q5. Has this service been offered before?
A5. The complete service from shopping to delivery with all inclusive tax and duties calculator has not been offered before, certainly not with the same degree of ease-of-use for the consumer. Our website and business has been conceived to make an essentially complicated service, simple and consumer-friendly. And we allow and indeed encourage our members to consolidate their shipments, allowing us to offer a more efficient, cost-effective service.

We are different, because Borderlinx has been established with the consumer as its focus, ie: a business to consumer orientated logistics service.

Q6. How did you conceive of the concept of Borderlinx?
A6. Our management team have been involved in different aspects of international logistics, shipping and eCommerce for some time - in pure transportation, import and export, and most recently e-tail fulfilment. In the last five years, there has been a huge increase in consumer awareness and interest in buying products from abroad. We could see there was a huge opportunity to create a service that offered people a shipping service which allowed consolidation, and therefore offered huge cost saving benefits.


The Borderlinx service and shipping questions:

Q7. Do Borderlinx members buy direct from Borderlinx?
A7. No. Borderlinx is a website providing consumers with fully transparent delivery costs, including transportation, shipping management and documentation: we do not sell anything apart from this. Borderlinx’s customers can link to e-tailers from our site in order to make their purchases, or they can buy from e-tailers independent of our site. When the e-tailer requests US delivery address details of the customer, the member uses their unique Borderlinx address.

Q8. How does the member know how much their goods weigh?
A8. The weight is often listed on the merchant’s website. When the goods arrive at Borderlinx they will be weighed and measured to calculate the exact shipping weight.


Q9. Why does Borderlinx use ‘volumetric weight’?
A9. The airline and logistics industries use volumetric weight to calculate the amount of space an item will require versus its dead weight. 50kg of polystyrene beads would probably need a whole aircraft to transport one shipment, but 50kg of golf balls would only take a fraction of that space.

Q10. How long will Borderlinx store goods for customers?
A10. Deliveries are stored at the customer’s unique address, free of charge, for up to 30 days. After 30 days, each delivery will be stored for a charge of $5 per day. The maximum storage time is 60 days, after which time the goods will be disposed of.

Q11. What currency does a Borderlinx member pay with?
A11. The Borderlinx website will show charges in local currency of the country of export (US Dollars). The site will display totals in the member’s local currency i.e.: a UK member will be shown the totals in Sterling. The payment transaction will be in US Dollars.

Q12. What exchange rate is used for each purchase?
A12. The exchange rate used is in real time, so the local currency equivalent will be shown at the time of purchase.

Q13. Can the shipments be tracked?
A13. Once the Borderlinx member has selected and paid for the shipments to be delivered, Borderlinx packages them for transport, prepares the customs documentation, clears them through customs and delivers them to the member’s door. Members can see the current delivery status of their shipments by logging into their account.

Q14. How long does delivery take?
A14. Once the goods have been ordered from the US e-tailer, they usually take between two and three days to be delivered to the member’s unique Borderlinx address. If the member requires immediate delivery, this can be arranged. If not, the member can continue shopping at additional US e-tail sites and therefore cost-effectively consolidate their shipment. The member can select between Borderlinx’s two delivery services: the Express service which takes 2-3 days and the Standard service which takes 4-8 days.

Q15. What if the Borderlinx customer is not in when the shipment is delivered?
A15. If the customer is not in, a card will be left asking the customer to call and arrange another delivery day.

Q16. What if the Borderlinx customer is not in during the day?
A16. The Borderlinx member can select to have their shipment delivered to their work, family member or friend in the same country.

Q17. Can members use the Borderlinx service to ship anything?
A17. As with all shipping companies, Borderlinx will not ship any restricted or dangerous goods and will not accept delivery of these goods at our facilities. In addition we will not ship excisable goods such as tobacco and alcohol, or jewellery or precious metals.

Q18. How do members know what goods are restricted and prohibited?
A18. The member should refer to the comprehensive FAQ on the Borderlinx website for advice, and they may contact Border control authorities for further details. In the UK, for example, a list of prohibited and restricted items for import is available on the HM Revenue & Customs website: www.customers.hmrc.gov.uk

Q19. Won’t import duty negate any potential cost saving?
A19. Our website allows the member to see at the point of purchase how much the shipping, customs duty and taxes are likely to be. In addition, members consolidate purchases which allows for just one shipment charge. Many items such as children’s clothing and books are zero rated for duty.

Q20. With the Euro being so strong against the Dollar at the moment, won’t this service put local European businesses under immense pressure?
A20. The face of retail, indeed business in general, is rapidly changing. Consumers are experiencing the results of globalisation already. Borderlinx gives the consumer the benefit of globalisation, through access to technology which allows them to shop globally smarter.

Q21. With global warming in mind, isn’t Borderlinx being irresponsible by enabling Europe’s consumers to purchase goods from the US which are then air-freighted in?
A21. Quite the opposite, Borderlinx’s service may well be the responsible face of shopping. At the moment, every year hundreds of thousands of Europe’s shoppers fly into the US primarily to shop. Borderlinx’s members shop from their home without getting into a car or plane. In addition, we encourage our members to consolidate their purchases, therefore reducing the environmental impact to a minimum.





Financial Questions:

Q22. Who owns Borderlinx?
A22. Borderlinx is privately owned by the board of directors.

Q23. Who are the funders?
A23. A banking entrepreneur, Hans Wackwitz, and an internet entrepreneur, Jose Zurstrassen, have provided Borderlinx with funding, and are both board directors.

Hans Wackwitz has worked in international banking for 23 years, and in 2003 founded ‘Partners in Equity’ which is a private investment firm concentrating on Education, Environment and Technology.

Jose Zurstrassen began writing code at the age of 11. His first major success came with founding Skynet, Belgium’s leading Internet Service Provider, which was subsequently sold to Belgacom.

Borderlinx’s strategy was very simple: any potential partner had to bring more to Borderlinx than just cash - in other words, expertise and experience. And Hans and Jose more than adequately fulfilled this requirement.




Hans Wackwitz, Chairman

Hans Wackwitz is a Dutch national with unrivalled experience in international banking, working with top-tier firms such as Bankers Trust and Paribas. In 2003 he founded Partners in Equity, which is a private investment firm specialising in Education, Environment and Technologies.

Hans utterly believes investing in and trusting in those people around him: he feels that it is these people who have the ideas, the drive, the ambitions, to deliver. And this belief is a moral compass that Hans applies to both his business and family lives.

Hans cites three great motivators in his life: the need for fun; the requirement for business to be meaningful; and the desire and drive to make money. And in his ideal world these three drivers should exist together.

He shows enormous interest in the world’s environment and is also fascinated in the impact disruptive technologies have on the business landscape. A disruptive technology is a technological innovation, product, or service that eventually overturns an existing, long standing, dominant technology or product.

Hans has gained valuable experience from serving on the board of a number of Internet and high technology companies. He subscribes to the view that commerce brings the world together, and raises populations’ awareness of each other. Interestingly, increased global consciousness through the use of the internet, is perhaps one of the most important and impactful disruptive technologies that the world and its societies are currently experiencing.

Hans Wackwitz is passionate about helping causes close to his heart. Specifically he supports the annual Homeless World Cup. As Hans says, the impact of homeless people has an enormous financial and social impact on society around them. The Cup gives homeless people a chance to change, and they do: 77% of players make positive choices after participating such as finding jobs or coming off drugs. In addition, Hans actively supports the Dutch charity ‘Friends in Deed’.



Jose Zurstrassen - Director
At 37, Jose Zurstrassen is a self-confessed geek: but a very different sort from the caricatured stereotype. For sure, he is smart – terribly smart – and has both vision and ability to predict and solve technically complex problems. However, he possesses the ability – rarely found in geeks – to communicate brilliantly in a way that inspires, excites and enthuses those around him to deliver spectacular results. Jose wears the crown of one of the youngest, most successful self-made entrepreneurs on Europe’s continent.

Jose’s track record is extraordinary: at just 13 years old he started writing code for computers and selling bespoke computer programs to small to medium businesses. At 16, IBM bought one of his contracts, followed by another the next year.

Jose’s energetic contribution to businesses is awesome, and was so from his youth: at the time when most of his contemporaries were wondering whether or not to go to university, Jose had enrolled in two universities and was taking two courses in two different languages, neither being his mother tongue.

After a series of impressive jobs, in 1995 Jose founded an Internet Service Provider in Belgium – Skynet, which Belgacom took a minority share in, going on to buy in 1997. Belgacom Skynet is now Belgium’s leading residential ISP service. In 1998 Jose went on to create VMS-Keytrade which is the leading online broker company in Belgium and Luxembourg, and was floated on Euronet the year after. In 2005 Crédit Agricole acquired Keytrade Bank. In 2007 Jose became a director of Borderlinx, and brings valuable experience, vast technical knowledge and a vision which will ensure the company’s success.

In addition to Jose’s incredible business background of start-ups, he has a ‘weekend’ interest in terra incognita: the ‘here be dragons’ unmapped and unknown land. He relishes every trip, and is fully aware of the harsh environments and places that will present to challenge his endurance. And bearing in mind his genius of initiating new technologies, perhaps this is unsurprising.

Jose is committed to waking up continental Europe’s youth to the concept of free enterprise. He perceives a lack of energy or willingness to embark on calculated risks, and predicts that this alone will dangerously shackle Europe’s future economic development. He positively challenges this frustration by mentoring competitors in Belgium’s ‘The Start Academy for Young Entrepreneurs’.

In addition, Jose Was Belgium’s Chairman of the Young Presidents Association (YPO).