The food industry is developing rapidly. One of the trends that have fundamentally driven change in the industry is health and wellness, and its growth is accelerating.
According to Statista, the global health and wellness food market is expected to grow to $ 811.82 billion by 2021, up from $ 707.12 billion in 2016.
As consumers become more educated about the benefits of making healthier choices, retailers are also shifting their positions to meet demand. However, healthy snacks are not as easy to find as healthy food.
42-year-old Nina Bual, who has been on the keto diet "for some time," struggled to find suitable snacks to satisfy her cravings, and discovered that others must face the same problem.
That personal pain point led to the birth of Wowlah, a new online healthy food marketplace in Singapore that she co-founded with Michelle Yao.
Third business venture by a couple of serial entrepreneurs
Wowlah is part of a Singapore startup generator called The Creative Square Company (TCS).
Nina Bual (left) and Michelle Yao (right), co-founders of Wowlah / Image Credit: Wowlah
This is how Nina and Michelle met – both currently work as internal entrepreneurs and work together in various companies and share a passion for healthy eating.
Originally from the UK, Nina has had success in her business activities for the past 14 years. She owned a chain of spas and a nail polish brand in India, and then started a cybersecurity company when she moved to Singapore.
Michelle, on the other hand, began her career in fashion design and merchandising, but has since taken the entrepreneurship path, engaging in e-commerce, technology, retail and other consumer products.
Together they have already founded three companies.
I was impressed that Michelle was a serial entrepreneur at the age of 28, which asked me if she had doubts from others just because she was young.
There was definitely a lot of doubt in the beginning, but in retrospect it all came from internal insecurity rather than external parties questioning my credibility. I am fortunate to have a supportive family of entrepreneurs who understand the itch of wanting to do something for themselves.
No matter what age you start a business, there will always be that voice in the back of your mind that raises doubts and judgment. But I think the key with entrepreneurship is to keep practicing taking risks, and early enough so that the voice can drop and confidence grow with every decision.
– Michelle Yao, co-founder of Wowlah
Online marketplace for dietetic foods
They both had the idea of Wowlah back in January of this year, but the site started within a month.
They were quick to implement because TCS had awarded them an initial fund of S $ 20,000 for experimentation, prototyping, and building the market validation business.
Michelle describes Wowlah and explains it as the online dietary food destination in Singapore, offering healthy snacks, sweet treats and even cooking ingredients.
Through their platform, customers can shop by diet to easily find suitable keto, gluten-free or vegan food. Customers can find everything they need to stock their pantry, from cauliflower rice and konjac noodles to keto chocolate chip cookies and vegetable chips.
Wowlah's range of starter kits / Photo credit: Wowlah
They also offer starter kits (their flagship product), which are curated boxes of staple foods to help diet newbies get started with their healthy lifestyle.
Traditionally, people with specific nutritional needs find shopping in supermarkets a painful experience. You have to read through the ingredient lists to find the right product.
We make this shopping experience straightforward (and guilt-free) by organizing our products according to diets and courses.
– Michelle Yao, co-founder of Wowlah
Wowlah carries a range of locally made products and international brands that meet customer needs.
Michelle emphasized that their goods set them apart from other companies.
“We maintain an agile system so that we can listen to customer feedback and meet their requirements quickly. We bring in brands that we know our customers love and desire, but we also have a selection of new and interesting products that they may not have come across before. "
Forced to take a break after only 2 months
Photo credit: Wowlah
According to Michelle, Wowlah received "mostly positive feedback" when it first launched.
It refused to disclose exact sales and revenue numbers, but said they had managed to meet their quarterly sales target within the first month of launch.
She added that customers also gave feedback that they did not know that diet snacks were available in Singapore until Wowlah came up.
However, the early days did not go smoothly. They needed to learn quickly how to manage their inventory, streamline logistics, and provide great customer service to ensure customer satisfaction.
When Singapore went into breaker mode in Singapore, they couldn't keep Wowlah running because they had to prioritize their team's wellbeing.
We were still shipping orders up to the day of the breaker when we were no longer allowed to go to the office, and we stayed at home until phase 2.
Since we were unable to take orders during that time, the loss was mainly due to opportunities and potential revenue.
– Michelle Yao, co-founder of Wowlah
It was a "challenging decision at the time," especially since their business had only been up and running for about two months at the time, but they knew it was the right thing to do.
Since resuming business in Phase 2, business has continued to grow as it capitalizes on the growing trend of people buying their groceries and groceries online.
"While the learning curve has been steep, I am proud that we were able to leave our teething troubles behind and emerge on the other side with a clear vision for the future," said Michelle.
Stand out from the crowd
As a small and young startup, one of the main challenges for you is to stand out from the crowd and attract the attention of customers.
"We are constantly trying different ways to strengthen our branding and ensure that what we offer is valuable to the consumer," said Michelle.
“While it's a challenge to keep working on, we've been fortunate to have received recognition from the community, received advertising from some notable outlets, and targeted key influencers, all of which have helped us overcome them help our challenges. "
But supermarkets are now well stocked with a variety of healthy foods, and Singapore already has plenty of healthy snack players like Boxgreen and Amazin & # 39; Graze. How does Wowlah want to stand out from others?
A key way to differentiate ourselves from large supermarkets is by giving customers the option to shop by diet or purchase our curated starter kits. We're also data-driven and agile in the way we sell goods. This means that we can listen carefully to what our customers want and meet those needs fairly quickly.
Wowlah differs from Boxgreen and Amazin & # 39; Graze in that these brands focus on a handful of private label products, while we are essentially a diet specialty store stocking a wide range of products and brands.
– Michelle Yao, co-founder of Wowlah
Fail quickly, learn faster
As the Singapore health landscape continues to innovate, Michelle trusts it will open up many opportunities for them.
Shared her future business plans, Michelle said that she would like to offer companies pantry services to companies that want to provide benefits to their employees when they work from home and / or return to work.
They are also planning to launch a Protein Starter Kit for those looking for high protein snacks, chocolate, and other goodies that will be available shortly.
"There are always a few things brewing in the background when we like to experiment with new ideas – it's all about where the data takes us!" quipped Michelle.
At the end of the interview, Michelle shared an ethos they believe in at TCS: "Fail fast, learn faster".
We love to experiment, which means that we quickly learn a lot from our mistakes. This mentality has given us the freedom that all of our businesses can move and grow quickly.
– Michelle Yao, co-founder of Wowlah
Vulcan Post readers receive S $ 5 off their Wowlah order using the coupon codeVULCAN5 ′with a minimum amount of S $ 50.
Selected image source: Wowlah
