Tell us about yourself and your journey to founding OnTheList
I’m Delphine, a French Mum of 2 young kids; Pablo who is 4 years old, and Gabin who is 2 years old. I arrived in Hong Kong in 2015 with Diego my husband who is also the co-founder of OnTheList.
Like most people, I started my career as an intern with 2 different experiences, the first in a big corporation, Unilever. The second one as a salesperson for a F&B company. Through these experiences, I developed a strong adaptability.
After my internships, I returned to Paris where I had the opportunity to join FAGUO, a fashion brand that was in the startup stage. I worked in the international sales development position in Paris for 6 months. My main mission was to manage existing distributors and find new ones. I had a strong distributor in Korea and with the brief Asian experience I had, I wanted to move to Hong Kong. After a few rounds of negotiations, I convinced Faguo to offer me a position there.
In January 2015, I arrived in Hong Kong with the responsibility for the Asian expansion of the company and I remember my manager telling me: now you have one computer, one credit card, and a suitcase of samples so off you go. The value of giving too much responsibility to “too young people” and not micromanaging them are valuable lessons I learned and these lessons still form the way I see great management. I spent a year and a half traveling around Asia and meeting many different cultures. During this time, I always had the idea of launching my own company in my mind. The two co-founders of FAGUO, Frederic, and Nicolas, gave me a strong entrepreneurial spirit. And funnily enough, Diego, my husband had the same desire. So instead of launching 2 different companies and not seeing each other much, we decided to jump into the entrepreneurial journey together with the same objective: reducing waste in the fashion industry.
What inspired you to found OnTheList?
The business model existed in Europe and in the US but there was no similar business model when I arrived in Hong Kong.
I went to a sale organized by a brand that was badly organized; I came back home and told Diego and we decided to do market research starting with reaching out to someone running the business model successfully in Paris. They had no wish to expand into Asia but they helped us to understand how the business works in terms of operations.
What is OnTheList?
As a customer, OnTheList offers a unique shopping experience with access to incredible brands with the best deals in town in different categories including fashion, beauty and lifestyle, food, and beverages. You can come to our city center showrooms in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai or visit our website.
As a brand, this flash sale business model helps you to manage your past season inventories in a sustainable way and reduce wastage while finding a new purpose for past season products. We are turning inventory into opportunities.
On The List creates a platform to encourage a circular economy by creating a good value proposition for savvy shoppers.
How long did it take from your initial idea to launching the company?
We had the idea in May 2015 and we did the first sale in January 2016. However, it was a side project at the beginning as we didn’t want to quit our jobs, it was too risky. So, we quit our jobs in May 2016 when we hired our first employee.
What makes OnTheList unique in the marketplace?
What we are doing is very intense and fast-paced. Every week we change brands, handle a lot of inventory, and work on a mix of retail/e-commerce and events. We are lucky to have very loyal brand partners who trust us. We are now in 8 markets with 4 permanent showrooms.
How did you secure funding for your venture?
We raised money from friends and family at the beginning and then we expanded gradually without investors. We are still a family business.
Why is building a sustainable business so important right now?
The vision of OnTheList is that every single item made with love will be proudly loved. As a young company, sustainability is part of our business model as our vision is to turn inventory into opportunity. All the brands that we work with are giving us stock that they would usually destroy. We are saving completely new items from going to landfills.
How easy was it to onboard retail brands when you first started?
This is the most difficult task to do. Every time we start in a new market, we have to start this process again from scratch even though we have a track record in other markets. It takes time, people need to trust you and for me, it is most important that the partners see the value that we provide to them and that we have a long-term approach while operating with operational excellence.
What marketing strategies have you used to build your active and exclusive shoppers network to over 1 million?
We don’t do a lot of marketing; our black shopping bags are the best marketing tools. Our business model relies on word of mouth. Then, when the brand partners agree, we mainly use social media marketing with influencers.
What has been your biggest success as a company so far?
I would say that our biggest success has been expanding into new markets; 9 markets in 9 years. Other successes include supporting our partners needs and recruiting an amazing team.
What has been your biggest challenge in building the company?
In 2022, during COVID, we had a very difficult period, Shanghai was in lockdown so we couldn’t operate and that meant no revenue, fixed costs still needing to be paid and seeing the cash flow reducing. 10 days after the birth of Gabin, Diego told me that we may have to close the company as we were not in a good financial situation, so unfortunately we had to reduce the costs and that meant reducing the team. There were very difficult decisions to make, especially with a young baby. By cutting costs, going back to basics, and focusing on the core business, we were able to save the company.
What current trends do you see in the luxury industry?
– Retailers are embracing AI at an unprecedented speed
– Gen Z is the key to our future
– An unstoppable drive towards sustainability
– Data is now key with personalization to each customer
What advice would you offer other founders looking at launching into the luxury retail market?
Test and learn to see if your idea works or not. Be flexible and agile and don’t wait to have a perfect product/project.
Where can readers find out more about OnTheList?
