The Min List is a multi-label boutique that focuses on non-public, halal-looking, vegan and biological care products.
It was founded in 2016 through 3 partners in the world of business, engineering and computing. In 2018, the company has refocused its business on halal beauty.
“We learned that many Muslim consumers were suffering from finding smart-looking products with smart halal certification. They needed a reliable position where they could simply buy without having to examine every ingredient,” said co-founder Nur Adlina Adyani Abu Samah.
Since then, the company has expanded the success of its brands to come with vegan and biological products.
“To be honest, the demand for halal cosmetics is not enough to be the only point of promotion. [Muslim consumers] say it’s smart to have halal certification, but that’s not the main point they’re looking for. Even if it’s vegan, they’re willing to check it out,” Adlina said.
The company with an e-commerce platform and opened its first store in October last year.
Six months after its opening, the store was forced to temporarily close the country’s “circuit breaker” period, which lasted approximately 3 months from April.
During the closure, the company took downtime for new brands to introduce to the market, especially local brands.
“Even though we’re still for foreign brands, on the existing stage we’re looking to expand our portfolio of local brands,” Adlina said.
“It will focus more on local sourcing in the future. Not just in beauty. We know colleagues who own businesses in other sectors that have encountered logistical disruptions and have been forced to look for local alternatives,” Adlina said.
Currently, the company has more than 30 brands and fewer than 10 are local. In the future, it expects local brands to make up at least part of their portfolio.
“There are all those emerging local brands because of the trend of good looking in white. We see many local brands appearing on the market focusing on a vegan, biological and even ecological appearance. Even local publications are turning to those independent local brands, so there’s an interest in development,” Adlina said.
He added: “At the same time, we can do local business in this complicated scenario. It’s a win-win scenario.”
Future plans
The Min List store has since reopened sales are still slow.
“In fact, we have noticed a decline in the retail sector. We think other people would come back after a circuit break, but we see more people online. I guess it’s because even with the things that started opening up, other people are still uncomfortable dating,” Adlina said.
On the plus side, there has been a steady accumulation in online sales. “To move forward, our purpose is to generate online traffic. It will also expand our foreign reach, where we’ve been running,” Adlina said.
Adlina revealed that, in the past, the company planned to expand to the Middle East by replicating its omnichannel model.
“Given the situation, we had to go back a little bit. Instead of opening a physical store, we’ll make paintings to increase traction through a combination of virtual advertising and influential marketing.”
She continued: “Our main goal is to be the reference source of good-looking halal, vegan, biological and blank products. We need to be a position where Muslim buyers can buy products smoothly.”
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