Regular Tech In Asia readers and craft enthusiasts might already be familiar with Hong Kong based Lots of Buttons, now the world’s largest button site. It hopes to expand to other craft items in the future, starting with beads and ribbons.
Lots of Buttons doesn’t just smother you with choice. It’s also the cheapest supplier, both on and offline, and features a slick frontend to help crafters easily find the right size, colour and shape (they’re a picky bunch). Currently focused on the US crafts market, they hope to “market in English, ship cheaper than competitors and be close to China,” where these materials are manufactured.
“We do this by disintermediating the entire value chain and going straight to the factory,” says founder Ken Lee. “Wholesaling and storage adds a lot to the cost of the buttons.”
Launched in June 2012, the firm is almost cash-break even.
“Two features we would really be keen on after getting an angel round investment,” Ken told us in an earlier interview and reiterated on stage, “is to offer people who buy our buttons and crafts materials the ability to post back on our site to sell it, similar to services like Etsy.” Lots of Buttons currently occupies what Ken calls a “sweet spot” combining low prices and broad selection.
Andrew Collins asked about the sustainability of the site’s supplier networks. Ken answered that these networks were well established now, and their supplier relations strong. Nobuaki Kitagawa asked for clarification on the site’s price competitiveness, to which Ken pointed out their proximity to manufacturers in China.
“I bet a lot of you are thinking, we should do zips…we should do socks!” joked judge Jeffrey Paine.
Too late. Apparently ‘Lots of Zippers’ has already been registered as an domain name.
This is a part of our coverage of Startup Asia Singapore 2013, our event running on April 4 and 5. For the rest of our Startup Arena pitches, see here. You can follow along on Twitter at @techinasia, and on our Facebook page.
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