Singapore Parents Can Now Get Babycare Products in Monthly Boxes with This New Startup

We’ve seen subscription e-commerce startups sending tasty or luxury things to people’s doorsteps every month, but how about the bulkier and less glamorous things that we need? Singapore-based White As Milk wants to give parents an online store where they can either get monthly ‘subcom’ babycare parcels, or order individual items like diapers or baby milk formula.

White As Milk’s Guillaume Chocteau explains that Singapore’s e-shoppers are ready, he believes, for this kind of store, which is modelled on American outfits like The Honest Company which also specalizes in babycare items. It lets parents get some of the heaviest and most-consumed items delivered to their door, hopefully at prices cheaper than the supermarkets, with the flexibility of being able to increase their monthly bundles if they find their little monster going through way more diapers than expected.

Guillaume adds that White As Milk is currently made up of a team of two working full-time, which includes himself. Part-timers work on additional content, such as the startup’s blog. White As Milk has had some seed funding from unrevealed sources, and is currently focusing on Singapore “to test if the service that we are proposing is valid.” Guillaume adds:

Yep, we’re gonna need those: A product page on White As Milk.

The first objective is to get 200 subscribers in six months’ time. If the model is validated in Singapore, we will think to other mature markets and dense cities in Asia where recurring payments will not be an issue.

For companies, White As Milk can “help baby brands softly launch their product on the Singapore market” in a way that’s simpler and cheaper than going through retailers. I guess that once a subcom site reaches a certain size, it’ll gain the gravitas to better dictate terms to brands – and to attract higher-end products.

Over in Indonesia, we recently saw a new specialist online store for baby-related items in the form of Bilna, so it seems like a good time for babycare e-tailers to emerge in Southeast Asia. But none seem to be trying the subcom model. Perhaps White As Milk’s biggest challenger so far is the huge retail chain MotherCare which has a Singapore branch of its online store.