Nicolas Rahme of DocShipper tells us about their goal to be the digital link between buyers and all players in need.
Tell us about you, your career, and how you founded DocShipper.
Nicolas Rahme: After a number of entrepreneurial endeavors, including SIAM Shipping, SINO Shipping, FNM Group, and Lenco Marine, I used my experiences and skills to co-found & lead DocShipper Group as CEO. DocShipper has been an ambitious import/export project in hyper-growth since the very beginning.
Working on a case-by-case basis, DocShipper offers customized solutions to any kind of client, keeping in mind their requirements and expectations at all times.
Asia and Western Europe were essential to our expansion plan, but DocShipper’s capabilities now extend beyond these areas. Our global network, which offers logistics, sourcing, and distribution solutions, provides first-class buying sources and solid logistic routes (Air, Sea, Rail, and Trucking) for all types of commodities.
A unique business model that integrates 3 departments to manage the whole supply chain cycle:
· Sourcing to support the procurement process (supplier search, quality control, compliance…).
· International Logistics to assist freight requirements (transport, packing, customs clearance…).
· 3PL to help E-Commerce players with their logistics (warehousing, order fulfillment, Last-Mile Delivery…).
Do you have small habits that made a meaningful impact on your life and business?
Nicolas Rahme: Like any self-respecting Lebanese – or Phoenician – entrepreneur, I’ve been interested in business since I was born. On the other hand, my (half) French origin also provided me with rigor and Cartesianism. From this combination was born a natural taste for refinement (micro) as well as the visionary aspect (macro). Fanatic of (geo)politics, business, economy, and history, I also find myself in new technologies (cryptocurrency, startup ecosystem…), which I have been immersed in since I was nearly 15.
How does DocShipper market its product/services online?
Nicolas Rahme: DocShipper has a very aggressive digital marketing strategy on the market. We are active on the majority of channels that the web can offer us: social networks, SEO, SEA, web scrapping, mass mailing… We simply use all the (digital) means at our disposal to attack the market and grab market share from the traditional (& archaic) players.
What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to manage your online marketing?
Nicolas Rahme: We are using dozens of tools to help us with our marketing strategy, which include (but are not limited to): GetResponse, Hootsuite, Lempod, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Captain Data, DropContact, Quilbot, Lemlist, Hunter, Sales Navigator (LinkedIn), ZOHO CRM, Cloudtalk, Lusha, Discord…
What is your hiring policy/process, and how do you retain your employees?
Nicolas Rahme: We are super picky in our hiring process based on a simple principle: “If we want to be the best, we need the best on the HR market! “. Finding a needle in a haystack is not easy, even less when you’re demanding working conditions BUT… “No pain, no gain.”
We are naturally compensating the balance with premium package and startup ambiance (flexible & work hard/play harder).
How are you funding your growth?
Nicolas Rahme: It’s very simple. We have been in bootstrapping since the very beginning. Therefore, we are self-financing: the profits generated by the activity finance the company’s development.
Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?
Nicolas Rahme: We have tons of direct and indirect competitors since we are playing in a huge market (international logistics represents 9000B USD and international trade, 23000B USD). The question is more, how will traditional players stay in the game? As we can see in certain industries (taxi, catering, hotel, medical, banking…), conventional providers have been disrupted by new digital monsters (in the same order: Uber, TripAdvisor, Airbnb, Doctolib, N26…). They simply based their business model on 4 pillars:
· Digital marketing: High online visibility to increase our flow
· Sales process: We don’t sell, we assist and serve from A to Z
· Tech: Automation for higher productivity & optimization UX
· Global network: The 3 previous pillars enable us to “easily” build worldwide connections.
That’s simply how we are going to eject our (primitive) competitors from the market.
Tell us a customer success story of yours.
Nicolas Rahme: A success story could be easily represented by the collaboration developed between DocShipper and Lenco Marine, a Lebanese-based yacht manufacturer. We are assisting them from A to Z on their product cycle :
· Our sourcing department supports them in the procurement process of the raw materials needed to build yachts. We helped them save more than 15% on their production costs at this stage.
· Then, our logistics team assists them in freighting the production around the world, including (but not limited to) Europe, America, Africa, Asia, and within the MENA region.
Your final thoughts?
Nicolas Rahme: You are looking for import/export assistance? Here we are! Feel free to contact our team. We are waiting for you!
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