DENNIS THEAN, marketing director, and
CELEST THOI, creative director, PIW Resources Sdn Bhd

How did you get started in the wedding gown business?
Celest:  I was planning my own wedding before I opened a small, personalised bridal boutique in Auckland.
Dennis: I was a marketing manager for a Singapore-based company that manufactures and distributes wedding gowns for the Malaysian market. Celest met up with me to assist her in sourcing for material and producing the initial batch of gowns for her boutique in New Zealand.

How did you end up opening the Pretty In White bridal boutique here instead of in NZ, which was the initial plan?
C: We had to move back to KL to be closer to our parents who were getting on in age. Also, the purchasing power in NZ is not as strong as in Malaysia. And brides there either made or bought their gowns; they are not fond of renting.
D: I had my fair share of dealing with unscrupulous wedding vendors during my wedding preparation. I took it as a challenge, and a good business opportunity to do things right with a better level of service in the industry.

How long did it take to start the business and what were some of the initial challenges?
D: We did it under six months with proper planning. The challenges were fine-tuning our operations. It is normal to encounter variances between actual business operations and the strategy that was planned on paper.

What can be done to curb these malpractices in the wedding industry?
D: Educating the clients to become smart buyers. We try to influence the industry by adopting correct business practices in running our business. As a result, our clients benefit and we are rewarded with business growth and profitability. This in turn leads to a noticeable market niche, which attracts more like-minded vendors into the industry. I am glad to say that over the past years, the local wedding industry has benefited from the entrance of many professional wedding vendors who are adopting good business practices.

How big is the bridal gown market in Malaysia?
D: It’s hard to pinpoint dollar value, but last time I checked with the Registrar of Marriages, statistics show an average of 350 brides getting married per week. That’s 1,400 to 1,500 brides getting registered in Selangor and KL every month. So it’s a big market just within the Klang Valley.  It’s a very fragmented market in Malaysia. You don’t have one bridal house chain that runs throughout Malaysia. But that’s nice because it comes down to individual services, design and pretty much a custom-made business.

Is it easy for new players to break into the market?
D:  It all boils down to the business model. If you’re offering a generic product that is not much different from a crowded market, I don’t think you stand a chance. If you compete on price, you won’t last long because at the end of the day, the wedding industry is about the value of the design, not just bargains or cheap stuff. I used to tell my clients, of course we can make a gown for RM200 but instead of getting soft netting, you get mosquito screen netting!

Are all your gowns made locally?
C: Depends on the design. The more elaborate ones are manufactured in our China factory while local seamstresses make 60% of the gowns. We have an in-house team of three designers.

What are some of the challenges of running a wedding gown business?
C: There’s no room for error! It’s all about managing the client’s expectations, our internal production quality and deadlines.
D: While it’s easy in a sense that clients come prepared with budgets in hand, it’s also a tough industry to be in because everything must be perfect. In this industry, the expectation is high. You can get away with lousy food once in a while or even shoddy services but encountering a bride who is angry about her gown… it can be very traumatising.

Have you ever encountered brides who were not happy with your service?
C: Bridezillas! [Laughs]
D: Yes. The issues can be far-ranging but it boils down to us not managing the bride’s expectations correctly. If we do, we can handle the expectations of the fussiest, choosiest, most fickle-minded bride. It’s only when we drop the ball on that one, then habislah (finished). But we have to make the customers happy because we live and die by our reputation.

Which is the most popular option — rental or retail?
C: Rental because Malaysians are very practical. Buyback option for those who are more specific with what they want.
D: The rental market is huge, it’s 70% of the bridal gown market.

When do you ‘retire’ a gown and what happens to it after that?
D: After three to four times of use or 18 months, whichever comes first. That’s how we keep our collection fresh — we don’t want our gowns to look old and shabby. For old gowns, we mark them down near or below cost price and sell it at The Wedding Hub, an outlet started by Kris Wong, founder of weddingsmalaysia.com. There, you can find old gowns in good condition but not up to our standards.
C: A lot of our clients who want to do destination photography will buy those gowns to ‘trash the dress’ by being photographed in the sea, for example. Then they won’t have to worry about not being able to dry clean it.

Does Pretty In White cater to mostly non-Malays since Malays usually want a wedding kebaya and not a wedding gown?
C: Well, we do custom-make kebaya but we don’t offer off-the-rack rents because Malay brides are very specific when it comes to the way they want their kebaya lace done.
D:  We have seen a trend in the past three to five years where Malay brides come to us for the Western-style gowns for the wedding cake-cutting ceremony. Then only do they enquire about a custom-made kebaya and gowns for their bridesmaids and mothers. They make up around 10% to 15% of our total client base.

What are your future expansion plans?
D: At the moment, we’re good as a stand-alone boutique. It’s a fragmented market and it’s not big enough to sustain a multiple-store chain. Profitability is above anything else. High volume and low margin are just more work and less rewards. But if you can keep the profit margin sufficiently high, this business is definitely healthier than contract manufacturing or a business where your product is a commodity.
 
Is the wedding business recession-proof?
D: Three things you can’t run away from in life — birth, marriage and death. So I think businesses in these areas, as long as they know how to niche themselves, they’re okay.

This article appeared in Manager@Work, the monthly management pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 765, July 27 – Aug 2, 2009