Carousell HK names Kevin Huang MD with rapid growth ambitions

Carousell Hong Kong has appointed Hong Kong digital industry veteran Kevin Huang (pictured) as managing director. Huang, who was last CEO of Birdie for about two years, will now oversee the development of overall business strategy, managing the daily operations, marketing, branding and community engagement for Carousell Hong Kong and will report to Bryan Teo, chief operations officer. He takes over the role from William Ip, who left the role in March this year after close to two years in the role. 

Huang’s appointment comes as Carousell Hong Kong steadily builds up its presence in the market with one in seven Hong Kongers now being a Carousell user, the company confirmed. With Huang leading the charge, the company looks to grow Hong Kong as a key market to inspire more selling and buying to nurture a vibrant community for all types of users.

Currently the team is about 40 strong in Hong Kong, and 700 strong across the region. In Hong Kong, it is also looking to fill roles such as business development and category management, amongst others.

“What attracted me to join Carousell is the mission of inspiring everyone in the world to start selling and buying to make more possible for one another. I am passionate about helping small businesses in Hong Kong, and Carousell is a platform where anyone can find selling success. Whether you are a casual user selling preloved items, a budding entrepreneur or even a merchant running a physical shop for decades, you can find your own community and niche on Carousel,” Huang told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

One of its key focus for this year is on CarouBiz (Carousell for Business) and supporting SMEs. In an interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Huang and the team at Carousell explained that merchants who took their businesses online last year, were the few who managed to weather the storm but many merchants who are unfamiliar with the digital business ecosystem are struggling. As such the brand launched a premium seller tool last year to help SMEs digitalise and grow their businesses. CarouBiz includes tools such as video listings to increase clicks, premium seller badges to increase credibility, and bump scheduler for regular product promotion. It also launched the CarouBiz Booster Fund to help SMEs and aspiring entrepreneurs to kickstart their online expansion.

Recently the company also forged a strategic partnership with Livi Bank to enable merchants to apply for a 12-month installment payment plan for their CarouBiz subscription with no extra interest or handling fees being charged throughout the period.

Moving forward, the team will look to expand on its Home Services categories. In 2020, the number of active users who used home services through Carousell has increased by two-fold year-on-year, said the firm. This grew organically in part due to the pandemic, as movement restrictions pushed Hong Kong-ers online to search for needed services. The most popular service categories include household services, electronics and accessories repairs, beauty services and tutoring services.

Meanwhile, with the launch of Carousell Auto Group in April 2021, the group aims to bring its experience and expertise in operating Southeast Asia's automotive business to Hong Kong, and further expand Carousell Autos' business to become the number one autos classifieds player in Hong Kong in the next three years.