Founder of Frambie, an online picture frame store, wins 2nd Young Entrepreneur Awards

Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State for Trade and Industry (left), with Beh Weng Wei, grand prize winner of the YEA.

Malaysian Beh Weng Wei, founder of Frambie, an online premium picture frame store, has won the 2nd Young Entrepreneur Awards (YEA), a competition jointly organized by Canon Singapore and MediaCorp.

The ceremony, held on 24th February, saw him walk away with S$10,000 (US$8,000) worth of Canon business products and S$7,000 in cash prizes, sponsored by Canon, MediaCorp, Spring Singapore, and Nanyang Technological University.

Frambie allows users to upload their images and photos to the site, and pick personalized frames for them. The final product will then be printed, produced, and delivered to the customer.

The YEA is a business competition for budding entrepreneurs aged between 18 to 40. It is organized as part of Canon’s Think Big campaign, which aims to spur innovation among Singapore SMEs and startups and promote the use of the Canon business product line-up, which include printers, scanners, projectors, and multi-function devices.

The runner-ups are Bryan Lee and Darryl Zhuang from Singapore-based Intraix, which is developing a low-cost home energy management system to reduce energy bills in offices.

The second runner-up winners are Zhang Weiliang and Joshua Chao, which co-founded Avetics. The startup is developing minature Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for non-military purposes like land data management. Both runner-ups have won S$9,000 in Canon business products and S$6,000 in cash prizes.

Avetics was also a winner of the Ideas.Inc Business Challenge 2011, an annual competition organized by Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University that selects teams with the most innovative ideas and molds them into commercially viable businesses. It won S$10,000 to develop their prototypes.

Keith Tan, founder of Singapore-based social enterprise Start Now, received a Special Mention. As a result, he has won a Canon PIXMA inkjet printer. Start Now is an online platform that links non-profit organizations and corporations with volunteers. The company had recently come in as second runner-up at Startup Arena, a startup pitching competition.

Judges for this year’s competition includes Andrew Koh, senior director and general manager of Canon Singapore, Foong Ming Lee-Ng, vice-president of Mediacorp, Elim Chew, founder of 77th Street, Dr. Low Lee Yong, CEO of MHC Asia, Michel Birnbaum, partner of iGlobe Partners, Goh Yiping, founder of All Deals Asia, and Kenny Leck, founder of Books Actually.

The event’s guest-of-honor was Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State for Trade and Industry.

Last year’s YEA grand prize winner was Ivy Low, who submitted a proposal for WhiteAngel Caregivers Consultancy, a company that educates caregivers on caring for dependents.

Check out Tech65′s interview with the winners:

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Music Contents Distribution/Develop Company M-up Goes IPO On TSE Mothers

Tokyo-based M-up, Co Ltd. [J], an IT company who develops web sites/services mainly for entertainment industry, such like artists, TV talents and athletes official web sites, announced [J] that they will be listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Section planned on March 14, 2012.

The company also develops paid fan club sites, e-commerce sites for talent goods, official YouTube channels, featurephone/smartphone sites, etc.

Music Contents Distribution/Develop Company M-up Goes IPO On TSE Mothers

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Secoo, Does Luxury E-commerce in a Different Way

Secoo is an e-commerce site for luxury products. Unlike traditional Luxury B2C websites, Secoo selected second-hand luxury as main product. Also, Secoo plays not the role of wholesaler, but intermediary, mainly profiting from the consignment fee. Mr. Lee, Secoo’s founder and CEO, defines Secoo as: Personal Consumption Finance.

B2C website usually serves as a merchandising channel, while Secoo is a platform for a consignment. Secoo employs a number of qualified jewelry and luxury goods appraisers, establishing the capability for appraisal and valuation of luxury. Secoo currently allows two ways of consignment: complete the entire consignment process online; or go to the offline flagship store for consignment. Secoo already opens flagship store called “Secoo club” in Beijing and Qingdao. Store in Shanghai will be opened in April of this year.

The entire process of appraisal, valuation and selling can be done online. Before delivery, customer service staff will contact the seller for confirmation. As for the transaction settlement, sellers can realize the value either at the point of appraisal or after completion of final transaction. Sellers can also choose to accept the Secoo virtual currency rather than cash for clearing.

Secoo mode is smart in its target market and business model. First, Secoo chose the second-hand luxury goods as the main product. What’s interesting in this market is that the sellers and buyers may essentially belong to the same group. With strong desire for real luxury, while unable to afford brand-new goods—they are those who accept used luxury and may resell them for liquidity. Many luxury B2C websites also target at this group and attract them with “everyday low price” considering their price sensitivity. But Secoo brings out product with even lower price and more important, a channel for resell.

Another point worth of mentioning is the business model. Secoo avoids large input on supply chain by positioning itself as a consignment platform rather than a traditional retailer. Sellers offer products, and make the delivery, and pay commission after sales. The major devote on supply chain is the appraisal and storage cost. On contrast, traditional B2C companies spend too much on supply chain, logistics and marketing.

But what inspires me most is the special design of clearing system. Let’s assume the most optimistic scenario and see what will happen: if all the sellers choose virtual currency for settlement and re-purchase products with virtual currency, money will circulate inside Secoo.

See the flow chart below for better understanding:

If we extend this brave assumption, we will find a virtuous cycle: luxury goods circulate among sellers and buyers, and cash floods into Secoo.

You may be amused by this bold imagination. But Secoo founder already adopted this payment mode in his previous project which targeted on used household appliances, which according to rumors, circulated over several hundred million RMB in the system. Secoo appears as e-commerce, but actually does finance.

With the recognition from famous venture capital, Secoo seems to enjoy a brighter future compared to other panic luxury B2C competitors. The capacity of the Chinese luxury goods market is huge enough to nurture several listed companies; Milan Station, the offline second-hand luxury retailer mainly focused on HK market, already set a great example by getting listed in HK with market cap of nearly 900 million. Still, obstacles lie ahead for Secoo: How to attract more suppliers for quick expansion, defeat competitors, capture the market, attract more customers and maintain brand reputation. No standard answers for these questions, but every ambitious company needs to face them before huge success.

However, this project amazed us most because it injects great potential to a seemingly ordinary business with innovative mode. In my personal view, Secoo is smart enough to: 1. use an innovative settlement mode to retain cash inside it; 2. choose the target market and product category delicately; and 3. add value to both sellers and buyers, while build up entrance barrier with appraisal and valuation service.

We do have reason to expect more from Secoo.

Related posts:

1. 163 Made Further Step Into E-Commerce Market, Launched Online Luxury Shop
2. NetEase Shutting down Online Luxury Service
3. Tips for Luxury Brands in Chinese e-Commerce Market

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