Singapore’s luxury marketplace Reebonz has changed owners not long after it filed for liquidation in September last year.
In a social media post from Reebonz’s Facebook page on Dec 27th, it stated that LiveCommerce Entertainment (LCE) – a livestreaming platform and marketplace connecting brands and live streamers – has acquired all brand and digital assets of Reebonz.
The business will operate under a new management. LCE also said that it will manage and operate ReebonzLIVE Facebook and Instagram channels, bringing daily live selling shows directly from Italy and Europe.
The rebranded name, called ReebonzLIVE, launched without much fanfare on Dec 26th. On Dec 28th it had its first livestream.
In a quote on the website, LCE said: “Retailers and brands are realising that social commerce can no longer be optional in their strategy. Today’s customers are more social and demand a more meaningful and entertaining online shopping experience.”
“As people spend more time on social media platforms, reaching them via livestreaming on Facebook and Instagram live will become a dedicated and effective sales channel to reach and engage customers,” it added.
So who is LCE?
According to Reebonz website, it states that the founders of LCE are loyal fans of Reebonz and they “want to bring back the joy and excitement of shopping with Reebonz at their online sales and offline pop up sales”.
The brand was acquired in Dec 2021 and it wanted to stay true to the founding brand values of Reebonz as a ‘trusted’ and ‘exciting’ brand.
A check on Singapore’s company directory website singapore-corp.com revealed that LCE is an active company, a private firm limited by shares and its primary business activity is the retail sale of clothing for adults.
The business was shown to be registered on Sept 20th, 2021, which is conveniently just 10 days after Reebonz announced that it would undergo liquidation.
This suggests that Reebonz could have been in talks to sell its brand assets to LCE when the business was planning to file for liquidation.
Little is known about the new company and its founders as of now, so much remains to be seen on how this “revamped” business will perform.
How is this different?
Customers can tune in to daily livestreams on Facebook Live and Instagram to see the liveselling of various brands.
They can place their orders while watching the livestreaming via the comments section and order the items.
Customers will then receive a Facebook message to add item(s) to cart and click check out to continue.
A credit card check out link will be sent to customers on Instagram. Users then make the purchase via the pop up link using credit card, QR pay, or PayNow.
LCE said that it takes three to four weeks for the items to reach customers doorsteps via courier delivery. Since the company only started its live sales late last month, it’ll take about a month before the first batch of customers receive their products.
Currently, thanks to Reebonz’ accumulated social media following of almost two million followers on Facebook, it seems there’s some traction on the platform, despite its tumultuous past.
In a four-hour long Facebook livestream on Dec 28th, there were 490 comments, although a bulk of the comments came from Reebonz moderators recommending products and words of encouragement from former customers of Reebonz.
Livestreaming potential
Livestreaming has become a hit in Singapore last year, but that phenomenon actually stemmed from China, where the country has been conducting online sales via livestreams for a few years.
As of December 2020, China’s livestreaming audience hit 617 million people. Also, 388 million people made purchases via livestreams, an increase from 300 million in 2019.
Taking a look at Singapore, we note that influencers such as getai singer Wang Lei have turned to livestream sales for the next big thing. Wang crossed S$1 million in sales in two hours during a livestream from a Paris Gucci store.
Is this luxury items live-selling thing a fad, or will this be here to stay? I guess only time will tell.
Featured Image Credit: Reebonz, ReebonzLIVE
