Pacts with inSing.com and Zalora signal Clozette’s intent to become Asia’s premier fashion network

For a social network about fashion, Clozette isn’t exactly a looker, especially when compared to the sprightlier and hipper #OOTDX, an upstart that appears to be drawing the Instagrammer crowd.

But while my first impression may be less than positive, Clozette actually turns out to be more interesting than it lets on.

It certainly has enough cache to seal a partnership with SingTel’s lifestyle portal inSing.com, an arrangement that has given Clozette front page placement — on the portal’s dropdown menu. Clicking on that link will bring you to insing.clozette.com, an e-commerce site that sells goods from Clozette’s partners.

While I’m not sure how many percent of inSing’s purported 2 million monthly active users will actually land on Clozette, it’s a positive start. The partnership between these Singapore companies appears to be the right one too: Clozette, after all, has ambitions to be a one-stop shop for women’s fashion and beauty needs.

Sure, you might have heard it all before. It would seem that every online fashion and beauty retailer, your Zaloras, Luxolas, and Asoses, wants to be that first-stop for fashionable women.

But here’s the difference between Clozette and the rest: It isn’t a traditional e-commerce site at all. In fact, it fulfills an entirely different role in the online fashion ecosystem, that of discovery. Read more

Startup events helped HungryGoWhere secure the SingTel acquisition

Officially, SingTel‘s acquisition of HungryGoWhere for US$9.4M, Singapore’s number one food portal, was a few months in the making. Unofficially, the building blocks were being laid for three years.

The congenial work relationship between both HungryGoWhere and the InSing.com team was a key factor in the co-founders’ decision to join SingTel.

InSing.com is a lifestyle portal operated by the telecommunications company, covering food, shopping, events, travel, and more. Both sites’ food channels have a combined two million visitors a month.

“We know the people working in the inSing team. When they started off we actually helped with a couple of building blocks. So we know them from day one. The personal chemistry was there, and there was a high level of comfort,” said Yung Yih, who started HungryGoWhere, in a conference call between SGE and all three co-founders.

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SingTel Launches Daily Deals On inSing

Another daily deal site has popped out. SuperDeals resides on inSing.com, a portal that is run by SingTel Digital Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of telecommunications giant, SingTel. Read more

TWIA #51: Varsha Rao from SingTel Digital Media

As Steve Jobs always say in his keynote, “there’s just one more thing ….” Over here in TWIA, we have managed to obtain one more special interview during Echelon 2010 (before our 50th episode). Varsha Rao, CEO, SingTel Digital Media (which manages inSing.com) discussed her thoughts on her work in inSing.com, social media marketing & the focus on localized content to engage consumers. She also shared her thoughts on Echelon 2010 conference and the case presentation on Indonesia during Echelon 2010. You can go directly to TWIA website or listen the podcast here in SGEntrepreneurs. Read more

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