How can a good online experience boost your organisation’s branding efforts?
What difference does it make sticking to your vision? And what does underwear have to do with all of this?
We speak to (from left) Wouter Muis and Benk Visscher from Bundies on what makes a good online shopping experience, tips for entrepreneurs, and their business journey thus far.
Stamping their brand on premium basic underwear
Founded in 2017, the underwear subscription service provides the urban man premium basic underwear made from sustainable materials.
“When I moved to Singapore end 2015, I noticed prices of basic underwear were quite steep for the quality you get. On top of that, the online experience was poor. There were also no products that were sustainably sourced,” shares CEO and co-founder Benk Visscher.
“It got me thinking, ‘How can we improve this category of products?’. From there on, I started the first few months sourcing for sustainable, comfortable fabrics. After four to five months, Wouter joined Bundies.”
Wouter Muis is the Head of Marketing and co-founder of Bundies.
One of the secrets to Bundies’ success? Premium-comfort underwear.
What makes Bundies underwear so comfortable?
It’s all thanks to Lenzing Modal, a luxe, eco-friendly fabric that’s smooth to the touch.
“All our products are sustainably sourced. They are certified products from Lenzing, which offers us this certification. All of the fabrics come from Austria; they are shipped to China for production,” shares Benk.
Made from beech trees- half from Austria, and the other half from neighbouring European countries- Lenzing Modal re-uses 95% of softening chemicals during the production process.
Benk and Wouter share their secrets to customer success…
And their 4 tips for entrepreneurs?
1. Focus
Focus on your company vision and your product, says Wouter. “Recognition is hard to build. When you start out and build a brand, people are not familiar with it. So, you need to focus.
As a new start-up, you also need to be prudent with your spending.
“You have limited resources, so it’s not ideal to reach out too broadly via multiple cost-intensive initiatives like advertising. Keeping things too broad will not make your life easier.”
“Focus on your end goal; focus on what your initial idea was. Every step we make, we keep coming back to our original idea of a men’s basics brand and what we want to achieve,” adds Benk.
2. Be critical about output
“If something doesn’t work, do it again; look at Facebook or Google Analytics.
For example, when you’re doing content marketing for a new product, check your engagement figures.
If some topics are not working, make a decision if you want to improve your stratgey and proceed with it or not.”
3. Listen, listen, listen
“Listen to what people say. At the same time, don’t be too distracted by it.
Sure, it’s important to listen, but there will always be someone who disagrees with you. There’s always one person who will have a very specific opinion.
You don’t always have to listen to those opinions; but in general, listen, listen, listen.”
4. Know your brand
With the team’s focus on Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and China, Bundies is also looking at men’s basic products beyond underwear such as t-shirts.
“It’s been quite a journey. I think focusing our range of products made us realise what we really wanted to achieve with Bundies, and who we are at the moment.
So, for now, we are focusing our products on men looking for comfortable and sustainable basics; we really think by choosing this we can serve our customers better,” shares Wouter.
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