Leflair flying high with double-digit weekly growth amid comeback

Ngo Thi Cham, country head of Leflair

After the suspension for some months, US-incorporated technology firm Society Pass (SoPa) has announced the acquisition of Leflair in the second quarter of 2021 and the relaunch of its e-commerce platform during the third quarter this year. Could you share SoPa’s expectations when resuming Leflair's operation in Vietnam?

SoPa is an e-commerce startup that specialises in connecting consumers with merchants in Southeast Asia and South Asia. SoPa focuses on generating revenues by connecting e-commerce transactions in food and beverages, lifestyle, and services on our own platforms.

The latest acquisition of Leflair is part of our plan to venture into Vietnam’s lucrative luxury goods market. We have a strong belief in the core values the Leflair brand has built over the past five years. We will leverage the high-brand awareness of Leflair among Vietnamese consumers to deliver branded goods with competitive pricing.

By reviving the brand and relaunching the platform leflair.com, we hope to address the growing demand for branded shopping in Vietnam and provide consumers with a trusted platform to shop for their most favourite lifestyle brands. In addition, we are eager to work with top suppliers in the market to implement effective marketing and business solutions to reach more consumers through Lelflair’s e-commerce platform.Since relaunch, we are experiencing a double-digit growth week-on-week. We set a goal that Leflair will achieve its original first-year revenues from 2016 within the first three months.

Why did SoPa sill go ahead with the relaunch amidst the pandemic?

The social distancing measures have forced many brick-and-mortar stores to close. This brought enormous opportunities for e-commerce platforms to serve customers. Leflair is determined to make a comeback in the third quarter of 2021, shopping via the website will help consumers limit movements and direct contacts with other people, thereby protecting the health and safety during the pandemic.

We believe that the rise of e-commerce will help reduce the spread of coronavirus. At the same time, promotional campaigns to stimulate consumers’ demand will help resume the manufacturing activities, reduce the unemployment rate, and ease the burden on social security packages. When commercial activities are brought back to the new normal, the cash will continue to flow and bolster consumption. As a result, it will generate new employment opportunities for people.

Consumers can reduce their commuting activities by staying home and enjoying safe shopping via the Leflair platform. Meanwhile, they can save more money with a myriad of promotions from Leflair. The signature Flash Sales will run every day while the Shopping Battle programme is a chance for people to hunt luxury products at bargain deals during the year-end season.

Leflair received thousands of likes and comments on social media since its comeback

The most challenging task for us is arranging shipping from warehouses to customers during the social distancing period. This requires huge collaboration efforts from our logistics team as well as our suppliers.

What are the challenges of SoPa when relaunching Leflair, and how has the company been overcoming these?

To resolve this challenge, Leflair has tied up with TikiNow as our logistics partner. TikiNow is developed by Tiki to enhance its in-house delivery capability. With the extensive experience, TikiNow will help Leflair to support the growing needs of the customers.

In addition, Leflair also focuses on 24/7 customer care services through hotlines, Facebook messages, and Zalo to address any concerns and requests from customers. Leflair also offers incentives for customers making payments via cards to save on their favourite products with hot deals.

Bain & Company projects that as much as one-third of all luxury purchases in the world will take place digitally by 2025. How do you see the outlook of luxury online business in Vietnam?

We hold a strong belief in the potential of Vietnam’s luxury e-commerce market. According to a survey conducted by Nielsen, Vietnam ranks third in the world in terms of fondness for branded goods, only surpassed by China and India. However, Vietnam has yet to have any reputable address for luxury online shopping to satisfy the demand. Therefore, we would like to revive Leflair to fill the gap in the market with a vision to become a pioneer in creating modern lifestyles.

As a popular e-commerce platform for fashion, beauty, and home decor, Leflair will close the bridge between luxury goods suppliers with customers through our trusted e-commerce platform. Moreover, luxury online platforms are still on the rise with shoppers continuing to look for safer, more convenient ways to shop as the pandemic continues. Therefore, Leflair hopes to bring an ideal online shopping experience for Vietnamese consumers who are staying home to avoid the pandemic.

Leflair rolls out Flash Sales every day at 8am

How does SoPa upgrade the technology of the new Leflair platform?

Through the Leflair platform, our suppliers can gain instant access to over 2 million potential customers with a passion for luxury goods. Operated under SoPa’s ecosystem, Leflair also inherits many technologies to help suppliers reach their target customers. The platform is ideal to run a variety of marketing activities to promote their products more efficiently, thereby helping partners maximise sales as well as deliver business values ​​in the fastest, most direct, and perfect way.

The new Leflair platform has achieved very positive results. With cutting-edge technology, the operating system is more streamlined, with efficient management processes. Since this was a platform acquisition, we were able to take full advantage of Leflair's previous lessons. Accordingly, customers still have a good experience because the Leflair platform has been modified based on a lot of feedback over the past five years. Currently, the Leflair system is very stable with capability to handle 10,000 visits at the same time without any disruptions.

Leflair plans to support our suppliers and business partners to sell on the platform. This will help them to maintain operation during the pandemic, thereby increasing job opportunities and contributing to the recovery of the consumer market. After an official comeback in Vietnam, Leflair will make an expansion in Southeast Asia in 2022 to grab further opportunities during the global health crisis.