Scentses + Co, a Malaysia-based perfume subscription platform, has announced a strategic partnership and a lead investment from Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUI Bhd) through its venture arm, Pan Malaysia Ventures Sdn Bhd under Pan Malaysia Corporation Bhd.
By leveraging the strength and backing of the conglomerate, Scentses + Co is set to further catapult the company’s growth towards achieving an annualised monthly revenue of over MYR10 million ($2.38 million), Scentses + Co said in a statement.
Having already established a positive cash flow position, it said Scentses + Co will mainly deploy its fund into deepening and expanding its core marketing capabilities.
Prior to this, Scentses + Co has raised a round of angel funding from Yeoh Chen Chow, the Co-Founder of the Fave Group. Yeoh will also be participating in this seed round, signifying a strong recognition and validation to Scentses + Co.
“We are grateful to have the recognition and support of The MUI Group. This partnership is momentous and mutually beneficial as we believe we will be able to fast-track our growth trajectory by leveraging on their immense retail experience and footprint. We are excited to deploy experiential marketing to drive successful business transformation across the retail industry,” said Scentses + Co’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer Sadira Yeong.
The collaboration is set to be beneficial to the MUI Group as well as it will see the group tap into Scentses + Co’s forte in digital marketing to complement the group’s digitisation and Online to Offline (O2O) transformation plan while it retools business strategies in this new normal.
The synergy between both brands has already borne fruits for the MUI Group’s retail and hotel subsidiaries, namely MJ Department Stores Sdn Bhd (Metrojaya) and Corus Hotels Sdn Bhd, with Scentses + Co’s digital approach in helping to attract a younger demographic of customers.
Conversely, the physical presence of the MUI Group’s subsidiaries has provided Scentses + Co’s customers with a plethora of offline value-added services such as self-collection for their convenience and promotional offers.
The cross-brand collaboration aims to leverage a rapidly increasing E-commerce market that has been buoyed by the pandemic accelerating digitalisation and normalising online shopping.
With pandemic restrictions eased, the partnership will allow Scentses + Co and the MUI Group to effectively offer a more holistic retail experience that focuses on both online and offline purchasing experience to better appeal to new consumer preferences.
“This drive and bold spirit of young entrepreneurs, who have successfully innovated the centuries-old fragrance market, appeals to the MUI Group. We are proud to be able to support the endeavours of a standout in this category. Not only do we see value in what Scentses + Co can achieve but equally important, we see value in how they can complement and contribute to our portfolio of brands as we continue to invest in diversifying our sales approaches to appeal to a more dynamic and younger audience,” said the MUI Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Khoo.
Scentses + Co is Malaysia’s first designer perfume subscription that provides fragrance discovery service for its subscribers. As a fragrance e-commerce business, it was launched in July 2020 with the mission to inspire and intrigue more consumers into the perfume world to grow Malaysia’s fragrance community.
Sadira Yeong is a University Malaya graduate, and at the tender age of 26, she has already proven to be a prolific entrepreneur. She founded a Cradle Fund-backed startup, Readpublic, which is a platform to compare the prices of books across local and global bookstores while serving as a way to also sell second-hand books. Sadira then carried on her momentum founding Scentses + Co in 2020 to grow the overall local perfume market by making it more accessible and affordable for a wider audience cross-section.
Since its inception, Scentses + Co, has already amassed a significant following with over 10,000 subscribers and more than 700 stock-keeping unit (SKU) of perfume products within their portfolio.
MUI Bhd which was incorporated in Malaysia on May 28, 1960a and listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad on June 30, 1971, is an investment holding company.
The MUI Group is primarily engaged in retailing, hotels, food & confectionery, financial services and property development. With its corporate headquarters based in Malaysia, its international operations span the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the Asia Pacific region.