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Thai Fashion e-Commerce Site Eyes Singapore ‘Offline’ Store

Thai Fashion e-Commerce Site Eyes Singapore ‘Offline’ Store
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Pomelo Fashion, the Bangkok-based fashion e-commerce site that counts JD.com as an investor, is looking to open its first micro-retail store in Singapore as it seeks to expand its online-to-offline business model in Southeast Asia.

The company, started by former Lazada Thailand managing director David Jou, positions itself as a digitally native fashion brand that is vertically integrated – that is, it works with manufacturing partners and handles its own sourcing of materials to design to retailing.

Pomelo. Image: Vulcan Post
Pomelo. Image: Vulcan Post

Pomelo is betting that by enabling shoppers to narrow down their choices online and then sending the chosen pieces to physical retail stores for trying on for fit, it is able to marry the convenience of online commerce and offline service.

The company is also able to rent smaller spaces at prime shopping districts with high traffic to make it convenient for its customers to try on the pieces they have selected online. This type of business model can also significantly cut down on the number of returns.

Founder David Jou. Image: The Pomelo Team
Founder David Jou. Image: The Pomelo Team

“Discovery for fashion is going online, where you’re not constrained by having to display the entire catalogue,” David Jou, Pomelo co-founder and CEO, said in an interview last week in Bangkok.

“But e-commerce for fashion is plagued by the problem of returns because the clothes don’t fit or they don’t look good. Having the online-to-offline model cuts down returns because the consumer only buys what they have tried on.”

Pomelo store. Image: The Pomelo Fashion Team
Pomelo store. Image: The Pomelo Fashion Team

 

Pomelo is part of the wave of companies promoting the so-called online-to-offline commerce, a business strategy to increase the conversion from browsing to buying by blurring the line between online and physical retail.

Customers can be drawn from online channels to make purchases in physical stores, or complete their buying online after checking out an item in a bricks-and-mortar space.

JD, the Chinese e-commerce operator, led a US$19 million investment round last year into Pomelo, which also counts investors like 500 Startups, Hong Leong Group and Jungle Ventures.

 


Source : South China Morning Post

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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