March-April . 2022 | Glam Halal
Personality
27
Why is the name Shawlpublika ? I used to wear crumpled and pleated shawls back then when they weren ’ t yet available in Malaysia . I bought them from AliExpress , China and imported them to Malaysia . I only sold them at the office .
“ At that time , I did not know what to name them because I did not know much about branding . I first wanted to name it the Republic of Shawls , but the name was taken . I gave it a thought and came up with Shawlpublika ,” shared Hidayu , who also had experience working at ExxonMobil before bidding goodbye to the corporate world to become an entrepreneur .
Catering to the demand
She shared that Shawlpublika had a plan to do OEM clothing , but for now , the brand needed to cater to its existing demand .
“ We have in-house productions , but we also outsource the production as the in-house ones cannot cater to our demand . Before the MCO , we would outsource to China and India . But since the MCO , the borders are closed , we changed to local suppliers ,” said Hidayu , adding that she and her husband did not expect to have such a massive demand from the customers .
Commenting on the competition in the industry , Hidayu said : “ The competition is indeed fierce . Every day there will be new brands , especially after the MCO , everyone set up new businesses . So , what we do is we strengthen our online operation .”
She said the team analysed their customer behaviour and found that most prefer to shop online . As a result , Shawlpublika then strengthened its business on Shopee as it believed that it could not just focus on selling on one platform . Hidayu said the team did not expect that Shopee would contribute to 50 per cent of their revenues .
“ We have resellers who contribute 10 to 15 per cent to our revenue . Before the MCO , our website contributed 50 per cent to our income . Now , it ’ s Shopee that contributes 50 per cent to our revenue . We have four platforms : Shopee , website , sales team and resellers .
“ We can ’ t compete with Shopee ’ s marketing . They could hire Christiano Ronaldo and Jackie Chan . We can ’ t do that kind of marketing . So , we decided to join them . It ’ s a platform that ’ s trusted by many . Even though our prices are similar at all sales channels , people prefer to shop at Shopee because they offer vouchers , coins , free shipping , etc . These are offers and services that we can ’ t beat .”
Unique collaborations
Hidayu then revealed that Shawlpublika collaborated with celebrities like Izara Aisha and even brands . Some brands are Garnier , Urban Decay , Body Shop , Cool Blog , Krispy Kreme .
“ For 2022 , we have been approached by Laurier and Nasi Kukus Tonggek . Different companies would have different kinds of collaboration . For example , like Nasi Kukus Tonggek , they asked us to design scarves
Shawlpublika HQ , Setia Alam .
related to their nasi kukus ( steamed rice ). In return , their wrappers will have our brand name on them .
“ For Garnier , we will receive 50 products from them , and in return , they will get 50 scarves from us . It ’ s more to crossmarketing . KitchenZ also gave us 11 pieces of furniture .”
Some decorated boxes that are used as packaging and staff preparing customer orders .