YesAsia (formerly ''AsiaCD'') is an online retail company founded in 1998 that sells Asian entertainment products worldwide. After initially focusing on CD and video retailing, it has expanded into other entertainment and hobby products such as

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s and consoles,

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

and

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

s. Its website includes Asian entertainment news, music and

film review Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

s, and pop charts from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Since 2006, it has continually been listed in ''Internet Retailer's'' Top 500 e-commerce websites.

History

YesAsia was founded in 1998 as AsiaCD by Joshua K. Lau and Priscilla Chu in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. The company later moved its headquarters and fulfillment center to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

to better facilitate logistics handling of the Asian entertainment products carried by the website.Why U.S. shoppers are saying yes to YesAsia.com
''Internet Retailer'', 11 July 2005. It has regional offices in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

.YesAsia.com, Inc.
at ''Bloomberg BusinessWeek'' In 2001, YesAsia formed a strategic alliance with

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

to sell the latter's Asian media products in North America. It also has partnerships with

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

, and Japan-based

Avex Group is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other busi ...

. In the same year, it acquired Angel Pop, an online competitor that sold Korean products. In 2003, it gained market share in Hong Kong faster than its internet rivals such as

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

when

online shopping Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the r ...

grew in popularity during the SARS outbreak. Because of its specialized niche in entertainment products, YesAsia managed to grow in the U.S. market even when other Asian online retailers crashed after the dot-com meltdown. In 2004 it had about $13 million in U.S. online sales, which was 50% higher than its sales in 2003. YesStyle logo

In 2006, it expanded into Asian fashion apparel products sourced from Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong by opening fashion e-commerce retail website, YesStyle. The new division achieved 800,000 visits and sales of $512,000 in its first six months. It sells apparel, jewelry, accessories, bags, beauty and other fashion products, targeting men and women aged 18 to 35. One year after its establishment, it added a children and babies section in its product offerings. In 2009 the first YesStyle Store was opened in

Stonestown Galleria Stonestown Galleria is a shopping mall in San Francisco, California. It is located immediately north of San Francisco State University and near the former campus of Mercy High School which closed in 2020 and Lowell High School. Currently, the ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. YesAsia was one of ''Internet Retailer's'' Top 50 "Best of the Web" retail sites for 2007. The reviewer found that YesAsia was set apart by "its ability to create a sense of Asian community not only in its catalog of products but in its look and feel." In 2010, YesAsia formed an official partnership with the Korean entertainment news website

Allkpop ''Allkpop'' (stylized in all lowercase) is an American website which features Korean pop and gossip news. Launched on October 30, 2007, it is based in Edgewater, New Jersey, and is owned and operated by its parent company 6Theory Media. ''Allkp ...

. it is listed as number 295 in ''Internet Retailer's'' Top 500

B2C Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually tr ...

websites, with annual online sales of $34,933,000, and growth in 2010 of 26.9%.Top 500
''Internet Retailer''. Retrieved 2011-05-19 In May 2022, YesStyle joined together with Geek+ to create its first Smart Warehouse in Hong Kong https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yesasia-partners-with-geek-for-its-first-smart-warehouse-at-goodman-interlink-hong-kong-301537211.html

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.yesasia.com
YesStyle.com official website
Online retailers of Hong Hong Retail companies established in 1998 Internet properties established in 1998