MediaCorp, a government-linked media company in Singapore, has a poor record in e-commerce businesses. Its attempt at daily deals crashed and burned, while its online bookstore venture ilovebooks.com received no love from consumers.
Now comes news that the company, which is monopolizing free-to-air television in the country, has launched its own subscription commerce concept, called The Little Black Beauty Box (a mouthful, I know). Consumers were able to subscribe to it on styleXstyle.com, a MediaCorp-owned fashion e-commerce site, since March.
While the third time may be a charm, there are several factors that may prevent the venture from taking off.
First, by combining a fashion magazine with a social network, an online store and beauty box service, StyleXstyle is trying to do too much. The lean startup methodology has not quite filtered down to the executives at Mediacorp, who seem to think that cobbling a bunch of features together is enough to make the venture work.
With such poor execution, no amount of media exposure and celebrity starpower, which MediaCorp has in abundance, can save the site.
Second, there are already three major beauty box companies in Singapore: VanityTrove, Bellabox, and Glamabox. While I believe there’s still room for growth in this mini-industry, I’m not convinced Singapore can support another big player, especially one that has entered the market a year after its competitors.
And third, the e-commerce landscape in Singapore has gotten increasingly competitive, and I’m wondering if MediaCorp possesses the right expertise to survive the onslaught.
While the upper-tier segment may be less crowded than budget retailers, the market has changed dramatically in the past year. Zalora, run by e-commerce giant Rocket Internet, is running circles around MediaCorp in terms of tenacity, execution, and the sheer variety of items sold on its platform.
At the same time, focused, nimble e-commerce players like Reebonz already has a sizable following among Singaporeans, who are also concurrently buying from a variety of online fashion stores based overseas. Unlike terrestrial television, e-commerce knows no boundaries.
Although MediaCorp is potentially hamstrung in the e-commerce game, it does possess assets that could turn the tide in its favor. Beauty box companies are known to advertise through fashion and lifestyle magazines, which is read by their target audience.
Guess what: MediaCorp owns many of these magazines — 8Days, Style, Elle, just to name a few. The organization isn’t lacking in brand relationships either, and these ties are a key plank of the beauty box business.
Nonetheless, there’s a reason why big companies frequently buy up smaller tech startups: Larger outfits, with their bureaucracy and focus on shareholder value, aren’t always conducive environments for innovation.
With that in mind, MediaCorp should consider taking a leaf out of bitter rival Singapore Press Holding’s and SingTel’s playbook, and start working more closely with startups that actually have their ears on the ground.
It could, for instance, attempt to acquire VanityTrove or Bellabox, rather than reinvent the wheel. In fact, beauty box services do have an editorial component, making them effectively an online magazine with an actual working revenue model.
By attempting to create a subscription commerce from scratch, MediaCorp could end up missing the boat. With startup acquisition activity heating up in Singapore, the window for the media company to act is shortening.
For complete insights and analysis of the beauty box industry, purchase our premium report “Unwrapping the Beauty Box industry in Asia-Pacific.” You will get an in-depth look at:
- the business model of beauty box companies and how it should be executed,
- facts and figures on the industry and individual competitors’ latest developments,
- the growth potential of beauty box companies in Asia,
- challenges they’re facing and how they can be mitigated.
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