Vulcan Post pushes into eCommerce space with SG exclusive brands

Vulcan Post is launching its own eCommerce marketplace called VP Label that brings together local products for shoppers and readers of Vulcan Post.

According to the publication under GRVTY media, this new eCommerce arm is a natural evolution for Vulcan Post, which actively covers the stories of entrepreneurs and businesses in Singapore. The eCommerce arm was created to complete the whole Vulcan Post reader experience as the team found an increasing number of readers searching up on brands they had read about for the full product portfolio.

“After reading about a local business on Vulcan Post, readers can now easily purchase its products directly from VP Label, which are embedded at the end of the article,” said Jacky Yap, the managing director of Vulcan Post in a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. He added that while this drives sales for brand partners, it also effectively removes extra steps in the reader/customer buying process.  According to the publication, to date, founder stories of homegrown startups Bovem, Hey! Chips and QuincyLash have led to over 300 organic sales and over SG$15,000 in revenue generated via VP label, the company added.

Yap added that over the past few years, Vulcan Post has featured hundreds of local companies and their motivations. With a strong content arm supplementing VP Label merchants, the brands also stand to gain heightened brand awareness via the content and digital marketing efforts, he added.

VP Label currently utilises a marketplace model, and it features exclusively Singapore-based brands.  Beyond curated local products, the team also has plans to introduce bespoke Vulcan Post products sometime in the future. 

The products available on VP Label cater to Singaporeans of all demographics and include F&B, games, beauty products, apparel and tech. It has also onboarded brands that have a sustainable cause. For example, the Crust Group upcycles food wastes into their unique range of products. Surplus ingredients such as bread and waste like fruit peels are reincarnated into their CRUST beers and CROP non-alcoholic beverages. 

“As we are looking to support homegrown brands, there are no platform fees for merchants to be listed. All revenue via sales from VP Label goes to merchants, and we take a commission fee to keep the marketplace up and running,” said the company. VP Label will also be using its own Instagram and Facebook accounts to promote the brands’ products. Most recently, VP Label launched an Omnidesk giveaway in conjunction with National Day to drum up hype for the new offering.

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