iFashion seeking to combine blogshops

Singapore startup iFashion aims to acquire and combine blogshops into a viable business model.

A blogshop is basically a retail business built on a blogging platform, and when iFashion founders Douglas Gan and Lau Kin-Wai spoke to blogshop owners, they found that many did not know how to grow their business, says iFashion Group MD Jeneen Goh.

“There are three tiers of blogshops. A tier can comprise big blogshops like LoveBonito and MDS, which are doing perfectly okay on their own, then there are those making about S$1 million to $3 million (US$750,000 to $2.2 million) in revenue a year.

“Many of them started out with a single founder or with partners, and a lot of their success came as a surprise – a lot of them reach this certain level and they don’t know what to do next,” Goh has told Digital News Asia.

She says the iFashion founders want to help these businesses expand and grow, as well as to take advantage of economies of scale. They have many tasks in common, such as marketing, delivery and even manufacturing and buying, which they can do better as a group.

“The plan is to acquire some of these blogshops and merge them, while letting them run as individual brands. If they need funds, we will help them raise funds, and help them grow and go regional,” says Goh.

The startup has raised $1 million from Rimu Group and it is backed by FatFish Internet Group, of which Lau Kin-Wai is CEO.

Goh says blogshops need to meet certain criteria to be considered for acquisition by iFashion:  they need to have been established for three to five years, and have revenue between S$1 million and S$3 million, for example.

“We are also looking for passionate founders who really want to grow the business and who are not just looking for an exit.”

However, iFashion’s first acquisition is not a blogshop but the company Invade, which provides retail space for online players via pop-up stores and flea markets.

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