Breastfeeding first

11/02/2012 • White as Milk • by
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There was one main point that I was told in the first place when I started announcing around that I wanted to sell online baby powder milk. The sale of infant milk is strongly regulated: no advertising and no marketing is allowed in many countries. First of all, there were too many cases of baby death because of melamine contamination. Everyone can recall the 2008 Milk scandal in China. Secondly, the world health organization (WHO) recommends to breastfeed for the first six months of the baby. As a father and after attending the ante natal programme at the hospital when my wife gave birth, I am also convinced that breastfeeding is the best food you can give your baby. You can not be wrong with breastfeeding and every mother can be proud of herself to have breastfed their children, even if it was only a few days long.

Coming back to White as milk and the infant milk business, my question was: Will White As Milk be authorized to sell infant milk online in Singapore and is it possible if advertising and marketing is banned? Singapore government is on top of this issue through the health promotion and a dedicated committee: SIFECS (Sale of Infant Food Ethics Committe Singapore) established in 1979, which is clear about the sale, promotion and distribution of formula milk and all other kind of breast milk substitutes.

Infant formulas must NOT be sold online. (Paragraph 5.6). Then the committee is more specific: The Infant Food Industry should discourage retailers and other third parties from selling their infant formulas online or offer delivery services. That is not a good news for White As Milk, but I do understand the reasons of such strict rules. Breastfeeding first and should not face competition at any time.

So what would be White As Milk policy? According to SIFECS, Infant formula is defined as breast milk substitutes scientifically formulated to satisfy the nutritional requirements of infants up to six months of age. This term includes special formula products available over the counter. So, White As Milk will not sell online first age powder milk from 0 to 6 months old. No choice, and I am more than fine with it. It is fair and understandable.  However, only follow up baby milk powder will be sold, which is, from my understanding, authorized. I have not seen restriction about it. Regarding marketing and promotion, White As Milk will follow SIFECS recommendation: no sampling give away, no discount, no comparison between breastfeeding and milk powder

What is not recommended when breasfeeding

and what about fathers?

On a less serious note, I see only one reason why breastfeeding would not be a good solution for your baby: when fathers want to breastfeed as well… This is absolutely not recommended…

 

Illustration via

Why I am not using Facebook to promote White As Milk?

31/01/2012 • White as Milk • by
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There are not really good reasons to not open a facebook fan page. The first one is more likely lazyness but I don’t know why I don’t really feel opening a facebook fan page at this stage of White As Milk’s development. Some of you will note that I’d rather use twitter as a tool to interact with people. When I use Twitter I don’t see myself as a promoter of White As Milk, I just chat, share and meet new people with no intention in mind.  I found Twitter less formal than a facebook fan page. To me, a facebook fanpage is more than necessary once your company is launched. It’s as necessary as to have a corporate website for brick and mortar companies. This is a great tool to communicate with your core fans, ask for their opinion on new products, reward them, share new events happening in the company. With Twitter, I go further than just presenting my journey building the little White As Milk. It’s for me a tool to interact with people living in Singapore, to be informed about the news, to share day to day moments with other parents. I don’t think that I could do this with Facebook. Moreover, I don’t see a Facebook fan page should only be fed with links of other social platforms or this blog just for the sake to have a Facebook page. To me, it is pointless and it becomes very boring for the ones who liked the page. When I like a facebook page I want to see much more than cold news of the company. I want to have some “off the record” opinions of the person/company/brand who is maintaining the page.

But please, let me know if I am wrong and why I should open a Facebook page NOW.

And what about White As Milk ?

17/01/2012 • White as Milk • by

It’s a long time I have not really talk about what I am supposed to share with you,  my growing audience: White As Milk! I don’t know how many of you are human but I have a bad feeling that most of you are bots. Especially those, that commented on the post: White as Milk, the idea, what do you think.However, I have no doubt about Erika, but for the rest, I remain skeptical…

So, White As Milk? When will be the site opening? Not so soon… My IT skills stop at WordPress installation and theme customisation. Unfortunately, there is a huge gap between installing a WordPress blog and building an ecommerce website. And as you might have understood it, there are some developments that are quite specific. In particular, the subscribe and save function. The subscribe and save function will be attributed only to some products (diapers and baby milk for sure), for which by subscribing to it, customers will receive every month the quantity of diapers ormilk they want. Best of my knowledge, this kind of features on a merchant is not standard and it requires some development.

That’s why, I am currently searching for a developer who could give me a hand on this. I am discussing with some and I will have to select one soon… I have no idea what will make the difference between one or another in the end. Will see…

In the mean time, I am not waiting for the right developer doing nothing. My to do list is getting longer and longer between the sourcing of manufacturer, finding the right carrier, defining clearly what are the features I need on the website. Without counting promoting and talking around about this project to check if the model address a real demand…

Online shopping experience in real life

07/01/2012 • White as Milk • by
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I described somewhere that it will be great to order online daily products for babies that we don’t want to carry home everyweek. The internet can make our life easier. Most likely. But let’s face reality, that’s not always the case and the following ad for google analytics can prove it. How many of you have already experienced this kind of bad situations online?

One of the main challenge for White As Milk will be to have a “purchase funnel”, as professionals call it as simple as possible and with very few steps. Let’s see how capable White As Milk will be able to achieve this…

And by the way, I found this video through the excellent facebook fan page of active mummy in Singapore.

Happy New Year and bye bye 2011

02/01/2012 • White as Milk • by
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Happy New year to all of you that are supporting White as milk by visiting the blog or giving some support through Twitter or email. I have no idea how White As Milk will look like in 2012, I am still thinking about the right model, but I wish that White As Milk will provide as soon as possible parents and babies with the best products and quality of services. I wish you all Happy New Year for the coming year and happy parenting of course among other wish you might have.

White As Milk, the idea… what do you think?

19/12/2011 • White as Milk • by
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White as milk is not even a project, it is only an idea. The idea that, as a young father, I was fed up to rush to the supermarket and to waste time buying always the same thing for my kids: milk and nappies. One day, while I was coming back from the supermarket after work, I was imagining a service where I could choose and buy the brand of diapers and baby milk powder that I needed, then me and my family would be delivered every month for the quantity that we would have decided. I would have not to waste time carrying bulky and heavy items. I dug into the concept and I figured out that depending on the buying costs of the baby products, even the delivery fees could be included in the product price, so it would cost me the same price but I would save time, my precious… time…

Now I want to be convinced that this project is doable. I am meeting baby products producers, such as diapers manufacturers or milk powder producers to check if the project is doable. That’s for the offer side. On the demand side, I can’t really figure out if I would be the only one wishing this service or if there are hundreds and hundreds parents in Singapore like me, who would be relieved to avoid thinking to buy those recurring products that our little ones need everyday. As parents, we have better thing to do rather than going to buy products that we don’t need to touch, to feel, to taste before buying…

What do you think of this service? Does it make sense to you? If you are too shy to leave a comment you can always contact me here or on twitter.

A newborn… one more…

22/11/2011 • White as Milk • by
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First post is never easy. Lots of things in mind to develop for White As Milk. Overall, the aim of this blog is not only to tell you day after day the development of this new project of mine whose aim is to sell baby powder milk online via subscription plan. I will develop this idea longer in another post. However, this blog will be also a mean to share with you good deals, good jokes, and some of good tips around the baby world that us, young parents, are discovering.

White As Milk

White As Milk is a next to be online shop which will sell baby powder milk and/or diapers in Singapore based on a subscription model

Having said that this blog wants to be a point of contact with young parents not only to promote how fantastic it is to be delivered milk and diapers home but also to share tips about the growth and education of our little ones and the adventure of a new species in the “entrepreneurship” world: the dad’preneur.

We are social (at least we try)

Facebook will come soon… (the big facebook can wait…)