From one-man show to S$5 million revenue: Declarators makes a business of customs declarations

[SINGAPORE] In just over a decade, customs declaring agent Declarators has grown from a one-man show to a 91-strong team generating nearly S$5 million in revenue – with some help from the Covid-era e-commerce boom.

“You could not go out, buy things and come back. So a lot of people ordered online,” said founder and managing director Javier Yip.

The company is known for its primary service of customs permit declaration: helping clients prepare the documents needed for their imports or exports to clear customs.

Yip had the idea for the company while working at a logistics firm, when he received poor service from a declaring agent.

“I felt that the service I could do would be faster, more accurate and more customer-oriented.”

This – along with a growing demand for online delivery, nearly nine million annual permit declarations in Singapore, and the lack of local declaring agents – motivated him to start Declarators in July 2014.

The journey started off rough. Working out of his home with just S$1,000 in initial capital, Yip single-handedly created a website, cold-called potential clients and handed out fliers at Changi Airfreight Centre.

Ten months after starting Declarators, he finally managed to hire two employees for deployment at the airfreight centre, but one soon quit due to the heavy workload.

He also tried to recruit friends, but they did not want to risk joining a startup.

It was “all hard work” that enabled Declarators to eventually grow, said Yip.

As the declaring agent continued to provide fast and accurate services, brand awareness grew by word of mouth – and thanks to search engine optimisation.

In August 2015, Yip began renting an office for Declarators. In the next three years, the company expanded its services from permit declaration to delivery of trade documents and urgent items. In 2019, it had 20 employees and about S$1.4 million in annual revenue.

Covid boost

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, it helped Declarators achieve significant growth, said Yip.

A rise in e-commerce meant a greater demand for permit declarations from logistics providers serving platforms such as Shopee and Lazada.

Said Yip: “And I also started to think: Instead of just working non-stop, what can I do to enhance the company branding?”

He started Declarators’ first corporate social responsibility initiative in 2020 and went on to win honours such as the National Business Award 2020, presented by the Singapore Business Review.

Declarators also leveraged government support such as the Productivity Solutions Grant to digitalise its operations, from courier services and human resources to marketing.

This reduced operating costs by removing some redundant work, noted Yip.

By 2022, Declarators had trebled its headcount to 65 employees, and more than doubled its revenue to S$3.3 million. It also moved to a bigger office in Tai Seng.

Since then, Declarators has seen “much more business” even as it offers the same services, said Yip.

In 2024, it had 91 employees and a revenue of nearly S$4.9 million.

Apart from customs declarations, the company also provides the related services of delivering documents that require physical endorsement; applying for special trade documents; delivering urgent items; and deploying certified staff to clients to help with permit declaration and other logistics tasks.

It has about a thousand clients today. Nearly 70 per cent are freight forwarders that arrange the transportation of goods for importers and exporters, while the rest are importers and exporters in industries ranging from pet care to healthcare.

In seeking permit declaration services, freight forwarders prize speed and accuracy, said Yip.

Freight forwarders that can deliver goods the quickest typically get business from importers and exporters, he pointed out. “That’s why they need the permit fast, to clear the goods fast.”

He added that in permit declaration, even a minor error could result in fines or other penalties from Singapore Customs.

Declarators has well-trained staff who can handle permit declarations quickly and accurately, and are certified under Singapore Customs’ competency test, said Yip.

The declaring agent currently handles 80,000 to 100,000 permit declarations each month.

From expansion to education

Declarators also made its first overseas foray during Covid-19, setting up an office in Johor Bahru in Malaysia in 2021.

The company expanded to Kuala Lumpur in March this year, and is planning further expansion into other regions of Malaysia.

The declaring agent hopes to not just improve its capabilities, but also help others do so, too.

It intends to open an academy that offers courses on customs procedures and permit declaration, for anyone who wants to take the Singapore Customs’ competency test – “whether our customer or our competitor”, said Yip.