Reebonz was made to be a global e-commerce brand from day one.
Once upon a time, shopping for luxury bags seemed made only for the rich to experience. For us mere mortals, if we’re able to save up or lucky enough to score a big bonus, only then would we get to walk through the gilded doors of brands such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, Miu Miu, Balenciaga and others.
But three local men – Samuel Lim, Daniel Lim and Benjamin Han – sought to change the game. Similar to how Air Asia inspires with its ‘Now Everyone Can Fly’ tagline, they believe luxury should be made accessible to all, and as conveniently as possible.
In 2009, Reebonz was born, capitalizing on two emerging trends: (1), people were more comfortable buying and looking for great deals online and (2), there was a rising demand for luxury goods from the middle class earners.
Fast forward to 2017, it is now one of the biggest e-commerce platform in Singapore with offices in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and China. Although Reebonz started out offering luxury goods to consumers directly, it has since launched two initiatives based on feedback from customers: White Glove is a premium service in which Reebonz help to sell pre-owned items and Closets is a consumer-to-consumer selling and buying platform for pre-owned items.
We talked to one of Reebonz’s founder, Samuel Lim, to find out more about this exciting global brand and his advice to budding entrepreneurs.
Luxury bags isn’t something we’d often associate male entrepreneurs with. Was it a conscious decision to enter into this industry or did you purposely seek out a niche?
“Growing up, I was always interested in luxury brands simply for their heritage and craftsmanship. The interest never left me and in fact, spurred the birth of Reebonz. Started in 2009 and till today, Reebonz’s vision is to make luxury accessible and this continues to drive our business growth.
Back then, it was also a period of the global financial crisis and many companies and distributors were looking for avenues to liquidate their inventory. Furthermore, e-commerce was just starting to take off in Asia. Seeing the potential for growth, we decided to enter the e-luxury sphere and to scale up the business.”
Did you start Reebonz with the lofty ambition of becoming a global brand?
“Yes. Reebonz has constantly looked at expanding our presence beyond Singapore evident through our global footprint in the last 7 years. E-commerce opens up the potential of reaching out to consumers worldwide and our efforts went into localising the shopping experience for our members that were coming in from Asia Pacific. One of our strengths has been localising the user experience (language on website, local payment options, localised pricing) and marketing strategies that speaks to the cultural specifics of our global audiences.
Understanding their culture and needs allowed us to provide the kind of products and services that our technologically savvy consumers were looking for, and required us to stay relevant in the changing landscape of luxury e-tailing through our mobile-first strategy
We strategised and changed our business model from just an online discount flash sales site to a trusted luxury ecosystem catering to the needs of our consumers at every step of their luxury consumption journey.”
Running a business is not easy, and there are certainly challenges especially in the earlier stages. How do you keep yourself motivated and believe your venture will work?
“Our growth challenges were; building culture, managing expansion and fund raising.
What keeps me motivated is the excitement in identifying the next opportunity or gap in the market. Luxury consumption especially with the advent of omni-channel retailing continues to transform with time. We have and will continue satisfying the changing needs of our customers through innovative product solutions that makes the widest range of luxury accessible through trusted and seamless experiences.”
Reebonz has grown a lot over the past few year: you’ve expanded worldwide, and you’ve introduced two new services: White Glove and Closets. What’s next for Reebonz?
“We will continue to expand our market share in existing markets and also expand the business in countries such as North America, China and South Korea including continuous sourcing for rare luxury products from fashion boutiques around the world and personalizing content for our customers ensuring that the right content reaches the right audience at the right time.”
It’s easy to imagine running a global business might be a 24/7 job. How do you find time for life and what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
“To me, being an entrepreneur is about work life integration. With technology, we are able to stay connected to both work and family.”
These days, people are jumping into entrepreneurship in hopes of getting rich quickly. But entrepreneurship is a journey that requires hard work, patience and perseverance. What hard-hitting advise would you give to keep people grounded?
“1. Delayed gratification vs Instant gratification – Understanding that being an entrepreneur is not about instant rewards, but to look for long-term success instead
2. Find mentors
3. Invest in 10,000 hours – keep doing what you do till you’re good at it
4. Stay curious”
