Glamour startup rubybox joins 24.com stable

This is interesting. Makeup and beauty subscription service rubybox has joined the 24.com stable as the Naspers-owned portal expands beyond its core publishing business.

Rubybox, which acquired competitor GlamBox SA last year as part of an investment deal with VC company Hasso Platner Ventures Africa, was launched in September 2011 by Sylvia Gruber and co-founder Margaux Knuppe in 2011.

It claims to have a consumer base of around 50 000 — something it thinks will combine well with the six-million unique monthly browsers (around half of whom are women) who read 24.com’s various properties.

According to Knuppe and Gruber, “South African women are hungry for education around beauty and the opportunity to discover and test new products. Over the last five years, the beauty category is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 12%. Rubybox gives consumers an opportunity to test premium and relevant sample products every month with the option to purchase them online and have them delivered free of charge. It’s a beneficial scenario for both the beauty brand and the consumer”.

The rubybox team will reportedly continue to operate as is with 24.com assistance in working together to grow the brand.

Ian Lewis, CEO of Health and Commerce at 24.com says: “rubybox has the winning formula of an exceptional product that manages to engage and excite audiences. The quality of the rubybox team, the synergy in our audience demographics and their phenomenal growth convinced us to formalise a share purchase partnership that will benefit both brands. We at 24.com are also great believers in subscription based commerce businesses that are flexible and scaled to meet specific consumer needs. As our audience increasingly embraces online shopping, we will continue to look to complement our content with further niche products and services.”

Gruber also reckons that partnering with 24.com will help it expand its product range in the future.

“We currently work with a stable of more than 80 beauty brand partners. There are further plans in the pipeline to increase offerings in different categories and 24.com’s extensive network of online properties will give us access to a far wider audience for our quality products and therefore greater opportunities to grow the service offer.”