Naiise founder Dennis Tay has rapidly grown his business of selling designer goods from an online platform to five retail outlets in a short span to time. He was able to achieve a remarkable level of success by following a few simple principles.

In fact, the expansion of Naiise has caught the eye of several venture capital funds that are keen to invest in the company. But the sales trajectory is rising in line with the company’s plans and there is no intention of diluting the ownership unless a VC fund that really understands the business can be found.

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What were the factors that led to the increasing business volumes that Naiise was able to achieve when many similar businesses find that consumers are reluctant to experiment with relatively expensive designer products?

1. Naiise Was Able To Locate An Undervalued Supply Chain

Dennis Tay appreciates good design and he saw that there were a number of extremely talented award-winning designers who were unwilling to go to market with their products.

Their hesitation stemmed from a lack of business acumen and the feeling that they would not be able to successfully market their products.

Naiise was established to capitalise on this opportunity and provide an avenue for these gifted designers to showcase their products and make them available to consumers.

The company is founded on the belief that design adds value to people’s lives. It offers a range of products in several categories including furniture, home, art & prints, stationery and food.

Founded in 2013, the company already offers 8,000 products from 700+ emerging brands from Singapore and around the world.

Naiise has been able to become one of the fastest growing design retailers in Singapore by working closely with its community of partners, curators and customers and by maintaining a vibrant social media presence.

2. Focussed Programme to Educate Customers

When the company started operations Dennis Tay observed that although there were a number of customers who were interested in good design they were intimidated by the high prices.

Customers were also unable to understand the benefits an elegantly designed product could offer. Naiise took it upon itself to educate customers about how using well-designed articles could actually have a positive impact on their daily lives.

Naiise began the process by first making sure that its own team understood the many advantages that using its products could deliver. The company ensures that it has a wide range of products in every category.

There are separate categories for women, men and kids. Naiise also organises workshops on weekends and on weekday evenings. These reasonably-priced events are a popular attraction and a number of participants attend them.

The workshops are conducted by Naiise’s designers and makers who share their special tips on how to make the products that they specialise in. Participants get a chance to work on individual projects under expert and professional supervision. They can then take the product home with them.

Naiise’s efforts in spreading knowledge about design and educating customers have borne fruit with increasing numbers of people visiting its stores and website to select the products that they like.

3. Establishing A Retail Presence

The company initially started with only an online presence. It opted for this route as it is economical and a number of products can be displayed and sold with minimal investment.

Naiise’s website attracted great interest and gave the company an idea of the sort of products that were in demand. Soon the company gained confidence and realised that investing in a retail store was a logical progression in its growth.

It moved from an online model to one where customers could actually visit a store and touch the products and get a real idea about what they were buying.

While the online route was cost-effective and enabled the company to establish itself in the minds of customers, its retail outlets resulted in a big jump in sales volumes.

Naiise was able to build such a strong brand presence that several malls approached it to take up space within their premises. The company was very careful to select those locations that gave it the maximum mileage and exposure.

The decision that had beentaken earlier to educate customers on design also played a role in moving from a purely online model to one that included a retail presence.

Having taken this step, which required a fair amount of investment, Naiise quickly realised that it had taken a sound decision as the company experienced a greater response from customers than it had anticipated.

Building on this success, the company quickly ramped up its operations and currently has five retail outlets in Singapore.

4. Employee selection And Motivation

The dedication displayed by Naiise’s employees has played an important role in the company’s success. When selecting an employee, Dennis Tay does not look for any particular qualifications or experience.

Instead, what he does insist upon is a month-long unpaid probation period, during which the new staff member’s aptitude for the job is evaluated.

When the company started, it had a single person, Dennis Tay himself, handling all its affairs. More people were added as the workload increased. In the initial stages it was not uncommon to find the entire team working long hours and missing holidays.

Many companies in the retail industry complain that they cannot recruit staff as there are an inadequate number of eligible candidates available.

But Naiise has built up such a strong work culture within its organisation that its team of employees delivers peak productivity on a continual basis as it knows that the prosperity of the company is closely linked with the work that they put in.

At Naiise it is an established practise for Dennis Tay to spend a substantial amount of time training employees and working with them to develop their skills. This has paid rich dividends with the employees going to great lengths to deliver the best possible results.

5. Transparency In Operations

Naiise prides itself on the fact that it conducts its business in a manner that is fair to the company, its employees and it customers. There are no rigid divisions within the company and every employee has a sense of responsibility for Naiise’s future.

Every success is celebrated with great enthusiasm and whenever Naiise faces a problem all the staff members get together to solve it.

The company’s transparent attitude extends to its suppliers and customers as well. It welcomes feedback and actively looks for opportunities to improve its operations.

Naiise’s culture of openness has served it well and employees and suppliers have come to realise that the company is working to achieve the best results that it can.

The excellent relationships the Naiise enjoys with its staff and suppliers translates into products of the highest quality being made available in a friendly and professional manner to customers.

This is the foundation on which the company has built its rapidly expanding operations.