SME profile: Founder of Chic Living Kit service for busy women thinks outside the box

Subscription boxes are not new to the UAE, with quite a few in the market. While some of them have gone out of business in the past year, others have survived for about five years.

Nicola Monteath packs one of her specially curated Chic Living Kit subscription boxes at her home in Dubai. Antonie Robertson / The National

The idea for the business came to Nicola Monteath while she was beavering away at work. She realised there was a gap in the market catering to working women like her who hardly find time to shop, either during weekdays or even weekends.

To these women Ms Monteath wanted to bring curated, locally-made or internationally trending beauty products, gourmet snacks and vouchers that can be delivered to their doorstep or office desk every month.

She conceptualised the idea of her subscription box early last year, and in May started her e-commerce business Chic Living Kit in Dubai.

“Even in the malls if you are lucky to find a parking space on the weekends, you are not exposed to all the local brands or those that are trending internationally, such as the Korean ones,” Ms Monteath says.

Subscription boxes are not new to the UAE, with quite a few in the market. These include those that have only make-up products or only fruits and vegetables. While some of them have gone out of business in the past year, others have survived for about five years.

The skincare market in the UAE alone is expected to grow at 8.2 per cent during 2017-18 to US$332.9 million, according to research company Euromonitor International. That is almost identical to the 8.1 per cent growth during 2016-17of $308.1m. In 2018-19, it is expected sales will reach $360.3m.

Funded through personal loans and credit cards, the venture cost 27-year-old Ms Monteath more than Dh50,000, including a business licence, to start.

“It was all very new to me but exciting,” she says.

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Subscription boxes are not new to the UAE, with quite a few in the market. These include those that have only make-up products or only fruits and vegetables. While some of them have gone out of business in the past year, others have survived for about five years.

The skincare market in the UAE alone is expected to grow at 8.2 per cent during 2017-18 to US$332.9 million, according to research company Euromonitor International. That is almost identical to the 8.1 per cent growth during 2016-17 to $308.1m. In 2018-19, it is expected sales will reach $360.3m.

Funded through personal loans and credit cards, the venture cost 27-year-old Ms Monteath more than Dh50,000, including a business licence, to start.

“It was all very new to me but exciting,” she says.

In November, Ms Monteath finally quit her job as a magazine editor in Dubai to concentrate on the business. She now has a brand acquisition manager and is seeking US$150,000 in seed capital to invest in the technology to support the e-commerce aspect of the business.

In the very first month she sold 12 boxes, but now averages more than 50 boxes a month. With an expected revenue of Dh120,000 at the end of the first year, she expects to break even during the second year of operations.

Each box costs Dh120 and contains four to five items that might typically sell for Dh300. It can also be customised as gifts for birthdays or bridal showers.

“We have some good deals with our partners and get the items on good wholesale rates,” Ms Monteath says. “It is not quite easy for individuals to source local products because where do you go to find them, unless you visit the pop-up markets, and even then how do you reorder them?”

That is where Chic Living Kit comes in.

As a newcomer, she knows it will be a tough first couple of years to establish herself having seen a few go out of business over the past year.

Ms Monteath is constantly making changes to her offerings.

Having found that her clients were not keen on discount vouchers, she quickly replaced these with cash equivalents, such as Dh100 worth of spa treatment. She has also stopped including desk items or mugs that featured in the first few boxes.

“But we do see a rise in the subscription box [companies], which is great because it shows there is a market for these,” Ms Monteath says.

She has tried to keep her overheads low, such as using the storeroom at a friend’s place and wrapping and assembling the boxes herself. Soon, she plans to take a warehouse at Al Quoz.

While she reached out to friends initially, she is increasingly relying on social media marketing. Ms Monteath also does some of the deliveries herself when possible to meet her clients and to get feedback.

Most of her deliveries are within Dubai, but Chic Living Kit also has clients in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman. They include young Emirati women, students as well as expats, including men who “can’t figure out what to gift to women and go for the curated subscription box instead”, Ms Monteath says.

A box for men is on the horizon but not immediately.

“A lot of curating goes into a box and you have to research international trends,” she says. “It will come at a later stage.”

With the UAE to introduce value added tax from January 1 next year, several small businesses such as hers are gearing up to absorb the price rise.

“A lot of people think we will increase the value of the box,” she says. “We are taking things as we go but we will not increase the value of the box, may be we will get better wholesale rates or better partnerships.”

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