Founder with two exits takes aim at Southeast Asia’s luxury fashion market

Bob Chua has had a couple of ventures in the last two decades – including one that he sold to WPP, the world’s largest advertising firm – and he’s not done just yet.

Late last year, he set up a marketplace for luxury apparel and accessories that targets Southeast Asian consumers.

Photo credit: Blinq site

He decided to dip his toes into the world of online shopping after seeing “how the big boys like Amazon and Alibaba do it – what it takes to play at that level.” He was referring to his time as director of US warehouse automation firm Dematic, which services those top ecommerce players.

“It gave me a taste of the cake, and I knew Southeast Asia’s luxury market is ripe for something like this,” the 44-year-old Malaysian founder says.

Three months after its November launch in home base Singapore, Chua’s Blinq raised a US$3.5 million seed round from various angels and a family office to bankroll its operations.

But with its big ambitions and online luxury retail getting competitive, the startup faces a tough battle.

Eyeing new grounds

Blinq offers legacy designer brands and up-and-coming bespoke labels a platform where they can sell their wares instead of managing their own ecommerce sites.

Apart from automated warehouses equipped with garment hangars, robotic picking, and ambient temperature systems, the company aims to build out an extensive fulfillment network that helps ensure orders are processed and shipped to buyers’ doorstep quickly.

It’s like Amazon for high-end fashion, though it claims to be more than that.

In this space, some of the well-known players are UK’s FarFetch – also one of those Amazon-esque marketplaces, Rent The Runway – a rental subscription fashion service in the US, and Stitch Fix – an online personal styling service also based in the US.

Blinq combines all those models into a single shop, with a twist. Soon to launch is its augmented reality or AR feature that will let buyers “try on” their selections before making a purchase.

The company is gunning for Southeast Asia instead of the usual affluent markets like China, which accounts for a big chunk of the US$300 billion luxury sales globally.

So far, Blinq is working to sell a thousand brands like Diane Von Furstenberg, Hugo Boss, and Prada on its site and app, uploading items in batches. The company stores and ships goods from a warehouse in Malaysia, and has tied up with courier giant DHL for its last-mile operations across Southeast Asia. It plans to establish a hub in each of the market it’s in.

Banking on consumer data

Speed bumps ahead