Posted on Friday, 17 Dec 2021
1. At the very first beginning, why did you decide to entre beauty industry, any special story or experiences inspire you?
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2. Can you share how you come across this idea and set up the Bioskin brand?
Back then, when I was still an air stewardess, I was constantly facing skin problems due to the dry air and air pressure in the cabin. On one occasion, while I was away at United States, my friend recommended me a product that could potentially solve my skin problems that have been bothering me for years. I was skeptical about it but tried the products nonetheless. The results were amazing as it did not only solve my skin problems, but had given me a glowing complexion. With this vote of confidence, I have recommended the products to my families and peers. Gradually, I realized that I have a pool of satisfied ‘customers’ and hence I asked myself: Why don’t I venture into this business? As they always say, action speaks louder than words.心动不如行动. And this is how I started Bioskin
3. How do you face and deal with up and downs during the development of your brand, can you give an impressive example and experience?
I guess the down period of developing the brand will be during the recession in 2008 where consumers start spending less on everything. No matter how “branded” you are, people tighten their budget and disposable income. Despite our various efforts of marketing and advertising, we face difficulties in getting more sales. As for the peak of the brand development, I would say it is during the recent years. In year 2014, Bioskin has been selected by about 3,000 Gen X consumers in Singapore as the Top 1 Influential Brand under the category of Facial Centre in the nationwide study conducted by Influential Brands. The Award is a pure consumer driven insight which in turns indicate the level of influential Bioskin has among the consumers. Apart from that, I do feel that Bioskin has turned into a household brand where every other people would have heard of us.
4. What are the biggest challenges?
The biggest challenge is actually to get things started. Back then when I started my business, I was only 22 years old, the biggest challenge was how to convince my first customers that my products are effective and to gain their trust, so that they are willing to spend several hundred dollars on the packages I am selling. I have to be extra careful when doing skin consulting and to explain in great details to customers about my observations. In order to be able to do this, I read a lot to build up my knowledge. I have to understand the active ingredients in the products and be able to articulate how they are beneficial to my clients. I have to show that though I am young, I am knowledgeable and confident that my products could help solve their skin problems. It involves spending more time on each customer, to use more sincerity in explaining and enabling them to understand how the products are going to help them and why they should use my products. I know that if I could convince them and when they see positive results as promised then what I say will become more credible.
5. What is the difference between Bioskin and other skincare label, what is your strength?
Bioskin stands out from our competitors through our “No Squeezing, No Scarring, No Enlarged Pores” philosophy and our sincerity towards our customers. Bioskin is constantly equipped with the latest technology in order for our customers to enjoy the most effective treatments for consumers’ problems. With this, we are able to keep ourselves ahead of our competitors and customers can be assured with just the best treatments.
6. Who are your targeted customers?
Bioskin has a wide range of customers. Our target audience is quite broad in a sense that we have different packages catered for different people. To be more precise, Bioskin is actually looking at women aged 21 all the way till 49 or even beyond. Meanwhile, we have a sub-brand AbsTrim, which was initially targeted at men. With all this being said, both genders can go for either brand. You will see women going for slimming service while on the hand, I am not surprise that more men are going for the facial treatment. And that’s the main reason why we are opening up our Abstrim brand to women just recently. It’s all about demand and supply. All in all, we are targeting at consumers who constantly want to look good in terms of their appearance.
7. As we all know that home-grown brand is comparatively hard to accept by the locals (especially Singapore is a very international metropolitan), how do you compete with international brands, and where does your confidence come from?
We are constantly creating new ways of using our latest technology as well as our work processes in order to compete against the big international players. Other than bringing in new technology, we also explore the ways of combining different technologies together to achieve optimal results for consumers. We cannot reveal much for this innovation part as they are considered trade secrets but this is definitely where my confidence come from. In general, we know what Singapore consumers want more than those international brand because we are a home grown brand afterall. We understand the buying behavior, lifestyle, spending power etc better than anyone out of Singapore.
8. How do you manage to bring your brand to the international beauty platform?
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9. As a home-grown beauty brand, what are your ambitions?
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10. Can you share what is your pipeline in the coming five years?
We are looking at expansion into the Asian markets using a regional franchise model in the next few years, which will be a better way to go about taking the brand overseas – compared to setting up foreign branches which might put excessive strain on the current business as more time and effort will be taken up to oversee and coordinate. Furthermore, Bioskin is a Singapore brand and there is still a lot of untapped potential in the local market. Therefore, we also have plans to open a few more outlets. Ultimately, in order to succeed with our franchise model, it is important for us to excel here and develop a strong base.
I foresee the Singapore market nurturing over the next few years. Competition is heightened over the years which have indeed forced us to share a portion of the market with them. However, it is not easy sustaining a beauty wellness company and I believe so long we maintain our service standards and quality, delivering excellent results to our customers, the growth potential here is beyond consideration.
We are also preparing the company for listing within the next 5 years.
11. What do you consider the basis of good skincare?
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12. What is the most important skincare ritual for Asian women?
To me, 天底下没有丑女人，只有懒女人。This is very true. I think that a simple skincare ritual will be to be hardworking in maintaining your skin. Eliminate those bad habits of going to bed without removing makeup just because you are tired for being out the whole day or not washing your face often enough, not applying moisturizer etc. On top of that, one has to visit a facial centre every month to improve if not at least maintain their skin.