K-Beauty focused company Memebox is taking influencer partnership to the next level.A year after nixing e-commerce to focus on content, U.S.-based Memebox is bringing e-commerce back today via influencer-curated micro shops.The project, called Insider Access, is launching with 50 influencers who will pick up to five products from the Memebox assortment (which includes in-house brands Nooni and I Dew Care, both sold at Ulta Beauty), to feature in their micro-shops, alongside their content, which can be imported from YouTube and Instagram.By July, 350 influencers are expected to be up and running on the platform. Influencers will earn commission — between 5 percent and 8 percent — on products sold through their online storefronts, according to Dino Ha, cofounder and chief executive officer of Memebox.One of the goals of the program is to give Memebox access to data and insights from the community, according to Ha. Those data points can be used for trend forecasting. Influencers that are part of the Insider Access program will also have access to data, and will be able to see how posts are performing, what fans want to see and more.While the business is only selling its own brands for now, Memebox is potentially open to selling other K-beauty lines in the future, Ha said. The business is also working on its first K-beauty collaboration with Sephora, which will be a makeup line.For Memebox, the reintroduction of sales to the web site comes only after the company feels like it has solved the “bigger problem” — content and education, Ha said. The company’s web site has more than 5 million users and average users spend 20 to 25 minutes on the web site.Memebox’s switch away from commerce to content helped it build a community, Ha said. Partnering with influencers for content also allows Memebox, a six-year old startup, to avoid hiring an in-house content team, he said.”We’ve come to a point where we are solving the bigger problem and commerce could be introduced as one of the features, versus commerce being the main driver like in the past,” Ha said. A return to e-commerce was also requested from the company’s shoppers, he noted.”To solve those two problems at once we’ve evolved into community plus commerce versus just e-commerce,” Ha said.Memebox has switched directions several times in the past few years. Originally a point of sale for K-beauty products, the site cut commerce altogether in 2017 to focus on content. Around that time, Memebox created two private-label brands, I Dew Care and Nooni, exclusively for Ulta Beauty.
Source: Read Full Article