Lolabox Wants To Surprise Women With Beauty Product Samples

Recently I visited Freeware, a coworking space fronted by Groupara. There we met two Rocket Internet alumni who started their own startup called Lolabox. Lolabox is a company that focuses on providing female consumers with a collection of beauty products that they can get every month.

Cynthia Chaerunnisa left her position at Food Panda as PR and Marketing Manager last November to start Lolabox, which is still being funded by its founders. Prior to joining Rocket Internet, Chaerunnisa worked at a restaurant owned by the Ismaya Group, as well as Mitra Adi Perkasa, the two largest retail groups in Indonesia. Christian Sutardi who previously served as Sales and Operations Manager at Food Panda joined earlier this year after being with Rocket Internet for more than a year.

Beauty box business like this seems to be on the rise in recent years. SGE.io reported that similar Singaporean startup VanityTrove recently acquired GlossyBox, Rocket Internet's Taiwanese subsidiary, in an effort to expand its market. VanityTrove itself was founded in December 2011, and with the acquisition of GlossyBox has entered East Asia.

According to SGE.io, VanityTrove had more than 5000 subscribers as of August 2012 while GlossyBox had 250.000 subscribers in North Asia, Europe and even the Americas. By comparison, BirchBox, the US company that inspired these companies, has approximately 100.000 customers.

We asked Christian Sutardi a few questions regarding their decision to start Lolabox, their goals and how they see the market shaping up in Indonesia.

"I always look deeper into the business model and find that business beauty box is the most attractive in this market. Some sources state that the users who spend the most money on the internet are women, 27 years old, living in big cities and having higher education," said Christian.

Talking about platforms, Christian found that the beauty business market still needs to be tidied up. Christian and Chaerunnisa want to make Lolabox a more focused and targeted approach according to market needs. Christian says, "the beauty market is very complicated, even sampling are very ineffective and new marketing channels are very under-exploited".

Christian himself refuses to reveal his strategy because there are several similar companies out there. "All I can say is that we will focus on identifying and satisfying the brand's needs first – at the moment we are just company-oriented".

So, what kinds of products can be found inside Lolabox? Christian said, "The box will contain samples for beauty and health products. We always want to combine beauty products: local and international, famous and 'still hidden', skincare/makeup/hair/accessories".

Christian thinks that there is no similar market for male consumers because men tend not to like surprises. "I did a little research and tried this idea. One of the important features of Lolabox is the content surprises that come out every month. Men tend to be more rational when buying products, they don't like surprises especially when it comes to money. So I don't see any great potential with this. similar products for men in Indonesia".

Currently, Lolabox is still funded by the founders but will consider funding from investors if the opportunity arises. Lolabox itself is currently based at Freeware, a coworking space founded by Grupara. Recently, Grupara also announced funding for a fashion marketplace startup maskoolin.

Lolabox itself hasn't been launched yet but has started accepting registrations for potential users on its website and you can also follow their Twitter account @tholabox and at Pinterest filled with beauty tips and updates.