PayPal Stories Archive

In the world of e-commerce, there’s no shortage of things you’ll find online; it’s a saturated space, filled to the brim with merchants who think their idea is unique. It takes a bit of strategy and a lot of audacity to start an online store, and to then succeed, no less.

 

Jeremy Khoo knows this very well. His online ladies fashion store, Dressabelle, has managed to stand out among the mob of e-commerce fashion sites dotting the World Wide Web. “In 2011, when we were more or less just picking up our business, LiveJournal estimated that there were 11,000 fashion online shops, or what we call blog shops, at that point in time in Singapore. Just in Singapore. So that's like, everybody, right?” Jeremy explains with a laugh.

 

He’s laid-back, but very dedicated about his approach to business. “People laugh at me when I say, ‘Look, at the end of the day, our secret sauce is the fact that we work harder than everyone else.’ But it’s true, and so simple. I mean, it’s all about making sure that if we select fashion, and this is what we want to do, let’s execute really well. It could very well be selling cars or property or whatever, but the main thing is to just work really, really hard at it and do it well.” Dressabelle is a success in the e-commerce world, and like Jeremy said, it is done well.

 

It may seem like a cliché in the entrepreneurial world to list ‘working really hard’ as advice, but for Jeremy Khoo, it means having a considered and calculated approach to executing the business. “In business, you really need to love your numbers, in general. That is to say, your statistics, and the insights you glean from that aggregate data. Don’t fear them. Numbers are harsh, because they’re honest, but they’re real.” Jeremy’s attitude towards business strategy has a lot to do with his training as an engineer. “I love numbers. I’m an engineer by training, I love breaking down big systems into smaller parts and understanding what makes people tick, what makes them excited. I feel I can now gauge what’s going to sell or not based on these numbers. I can now understand which [clothing] features work out really well, what fabrics customers generally want. We use and aggregate data and we try to build a formula on which we base our business decisions.”

 

But it takes more than that. In the world of fashion and e-commerce, mere mathematics doesn’t cut it. Jeremy knows this very well. He has a balanced perspective when it comes to creating value for your venture as an entrepreneur. “Some people say out of ten ventures, nine fail and one makes it. I challenge that. Out of ten ventures, nine ventures don’t fail, but nine entrepreneurs fail. There’s a big difference. Ventures don’t fail; it’s the people that let down their ventures. That’s the X factor when it comes to success, the entrepreneur and their attitude.” Jeremy puts his words into practice by letting his own personality shine through the Dressabelle brand. “The thing about Dressabelle is that we’re a values-driven brand. The two things we aim to do is to delight customers and bring value, and I think that stems from an innate desire to want to impact people, to keep grounded in reality, and remain humble.”

 

From humble beginnings to what it is now, Dressabelle has come a long way. A lot of what makes Dressabelle stand out is its people. “Surround yourself with competent people, with people who are good at what they do. And for them that surround themselves with you, you better be good at what you do, so master your craft.”

 

Jeremy started Dressabelle when he was still in college and just about to graduate. One of his first missions was to get the right people in his team. “I got people who are fashionistas, who are in the fashion scene, who were really breathing and loving fashion. I also partnered with people who are good at business development, and who eat numbers for breakfast. At that stage, we took off really fast because we had what we needed. And everyone loved what they did.”

 

Starting a business while still in college has its rewards, as Jeremy reminisces. “I think that’s the best place to get your co-founders, the people who are genuinely interested in it, not just for a salary, but who also want to execute on the dream and just go on passion. If you start when you’re older, it’s tougher. People have different priorities, they need to provide for their families, or they don’t want to step out of their comfort zones. Back then, it was surprisingly easy to do.”

 

Dressabelle was fueled by genuine passion, and it continues to be a brand with a lot of heart. Their commitment to customer service is one of their main foundations; it’s their unique point of difference, and as Jeremy says, “We love our customers.” With around 80 per cent of their sales coming from just word of mouth, it’s clear that customers love them back.

 

This dedication to customer care manifests itself not in grand gestures, but in thousands of small details, which leads to customers coming back for more. For example, Dressabelle’s pop-up concept store in Singapore houses a ‘boyfriend corner’. “It’s for the customers’ spouses and boyfriends. On weekends, we have whole families come down and they’ll sit here in this area and play foosball and talk in the café while the moms and daughters go shopping. I see that a lot. And we don’t judge them. If they want to be here for five hours, then they can be here for five hours. We make decisions with the customer in mind,” Jeremy explains.

Another example is Dressabelle’s free returns policy, which was something that was implemented from very early on, before it became common practice in Singapore. “Before international companies came into Singapore to compete and offer all kinds of free return policies, we were already doing a fuss-free return policy, which wasn’t so common in Singapore back then. Customers liked that. They knew they could shop comfortably with us.”

 

Their customer trust is also built through Dressabelle’s quick and reliable response system. “Our warehouse is tagged to the [pop-up] concept store, which means every single item that you see online right now, you can buy it here [at the concept store] and you can collect it now. That’s how quickly we respond to the customers.” Put simply, customers truly enjoy shopping with Dressabelle.

 

This level of commitment to customer care isn’t a fabricated attitude; it can only be executed well when it is a frame of mind, an almost latent quality of the business which personifies it. “This is, frankly speaking, nothing new in the market. People talk about it all the time; about loving their customers. But I think what we really do differently is from the top-down, in every single department, we keep it tight and we keep it consistent. We’ve become a human form. Customers greet us as, ‘Hi, Dressabelle’; we’ve become more than just a brand, we’ve become a person. I think that is incredibly beneficial,” Jeremy muses. “As we move forward, we want to put a face behind it as well – I’m Dressabelle, but I’m also Sarah. Come and meet me and I’ll come talk to you. Come have a coffee.’ This sort of personal interaction is what customers relate to, and it is extremely powerful for a brand to do this well.”

 

Jeremy coins brands into two different categories; “Brands are either aspirational or inspirational. An aspirational brand generally uses famous models, opting for glamour and all that, and selling a perceived value rather than what the products really are. For example, you wear a brand and you feel like Kate Moss, that’s aspirational. We are more inspirational. We try to bring out what we really are to the customers, which is, ‘Look, you’re already beautiful, it’s simply our mission to make you feel that way.’ That’s why our clothes are designed with good silhouettes and flattering cuts.”

 

Dressabelle does customer care really well because Jeremy understands his customers, and inversely, understands his business to the core. He knows what Dressabelle is, who it’s for, why he’s doing it, and how. “When an entrepreneur really knows their business, it shines through in how the business operates. Customers know when you know what you’re doing. You can’t make this stuff up. As an entrepreneur, have a purpose. When you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, it translates into your actions and the customers understand that as well. It’s a never-ending cycle that promotes the business to do better.”

As a trained engineer, he unpacks his attitude towards business in an analytical way. He knows what his raison d’être is but it doesn’t just magically appear. “Ask the right questions. I think a lot of people find reasons without asking the right questions. I’ve heard people say, ‘I want to be an entrepreneur because I want to make a lot of money.’ Or, ‘I want to be an entrepreneur because I don’t want to be a corporate worker.’ Ask a different question. Maybe the reason you want to make a lot of money comes from a different need. Maybe your need is that you want to impact people, and in the process, you make a lot of money, which means the money wasn’t the driving force in the first place.”

 

Jeremy’s philosophical approach extends beyond his business. “I think all that I’ve just said, it’s not even about entrepreneurship, right? It’s more like a life hack – the meaning of life and all that, why you do what you do, your purpose, and so on. But I think with entrepreneurship it becomes exceedingly crucial that you know these reasons, because some days you wake up and ask yourself, ‘What am I doing with my life?’ and if you know the reason, you keep going.”

 

Jeremy's Tips