Situated along Bukit Timah road, her first Sogurt outlet saw roaring success and\u00a0within 6 months of opening, she broke even<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Also: Kydra: How Two Gym Buddies Created Their Own Line After Failing to Find Functional Activewear in Singapore<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To that, Liping admitted that it was quite an unexpected achievement due to the high rent and labour costs as well as low human traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite happening now, but at that time [2010], this stretch was dead. However, I saw that it was surrounded by schools and I thought that the students needed a place to chill because they are damn stressed,\u201d recalls the 34-year-old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n True enough, flocks of students (who made up the bulk of her customers) started forming snake-like queues outside the Sogurt store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBusiness blew my expectations. I entered [the market] with a simple mindset of wanting to create a place where people can experience love, joy, friendships; that\u2019s Sogurt\u2019s motto,\u201d Liping shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the youths really resonated with what we stood for and what we were offering.\u201d The founder also leveraged on Facebook to build brand awareness among Singaporeans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat year [2010] was the start of the social media era and most businesses weren\u2019t on Facebook. We encouraged our customers to take photos and tag their friends and that was how we built a community of Sogurt lovers,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the success of her first outlet, Liping decided to open her second outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Also: <\/em><\/strong>5 Questions With\u2026Regine Sum, Founder And Creative Director Of Nasty Cookie<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy parents were the ones who supported my first venture and as experienced business owners, my dad advised me to think of expansion as I needed to build the brand and scale up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within a year, Liping opened 2 more outlets \u00ad\u2013 one in United Square and the other in NEX which proved to be great decisions as profits started rolling in at both outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnited Square was great because it\u2019s a very family-friendly mall. There were a lot of tuition centres and the kids loved our product. As for NEX, to be honest, we thought we were screwed as our store was located in a very obscure location. But to our pleasant surprise, the store was packed on the afternoon of our launch. That was when we realised that there\u2019s something about this space and our brand that was able to draw the crowd,\u201d she smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The success of both outlets injected a boost of confidence that resulted in an expansion craze. Unfortunately for her, it did not turn out well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe got into a few bad leases such as OneKM (now known as KINEX) and Suntec City. The rent was very expensive and there was little traffic,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Business was so bad that there were days where their overall earnings amounted to less than $100 in a day<\/strong>. This in turn affected overall profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can make good money from your first, second and third stores but if you have one shop that isn\u2019t doing well, all your profits are gone. It really affected my morale. When you put in a lot of effort to bring a shop to profitability and all of it is being sucked by a bad store, it\u2019s very demoralising,\u201d she sighed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the rough patch, Liping took it in her stride and shared that it was all part and parcel of being an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of trial and error,\u201d she acknowledged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, Liping made the decision to consolidate all 15 Sogurt outlets islandwide to a single flagship caf\u00e9 \u2013 KARA Caf\u00e9 \u2013 in Bukit Timah, the location of her original Sogurt outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Also: <\/em><\/strong>Putting Passion On Paper: Founder of Papercranes Design, Aerilynn Tan, On the Challenges of Being a Solopreneur<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was the year llaollao entered the market and it was also that time when we realised that our businesses model was unsustainable,\u201d she admitted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe restructured our entire business model and went through a re-branding process. The decision was that we scale back, cut all the outlets that were not doing well, finish up all our leases, stomach the losses and then we focus on one flagship concept,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two years after the opening of KARA Caf\u00e9 in 2017, Liping made another major business decision: to enter the e-commerce space by placing their products on food delivery platform \u2013 Oddle Eats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, it was only during the pandemic that they saw a spike in online sales. The sudden influx of orders during circuit breaker also led them to\u00a0rethink their processes, re-train their staff and establish new SOPs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur online revenue during Circuit Breaker soared beyond imagination; and that was when we realised that there was something in the e-commerce space. The pandemic changed buyer behaviours,\u201d she shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd of course, it took a pandemic to bring out the notion of being at the right place at the right time,\u201d the 34-year-old chuckled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked for advice she had for other business owners who are looking to enter the e-commerce space, Liping shared that it is vital that they know their brand inside-out \u2013 what it stands for and the group that they\u2019d like to target. She also emphasised the importance of having a heart for customers and forging a strong and genuine connection with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith these factors, you will be able to stand out in the very crowded e-commerce space,\u201d she assured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In January this year, Liping and her team launched \u2018Sogurt 2.0\u2019 which boasts a new\u00a0website<\/a>, refurbished social media presence and spotlighted the brand\u2019s halal-certified probiotic froyo ice-cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"STUDENTS](\"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/bukit-timah-outlet-2010.jpg\")
Through The Highs And Lows<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"THE](\"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/official-launch-of-united-square-outlet.jpg\")
The Road To Digitalisation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Sogurt-Packing-of-FROYO-ICE-CREAM-1024x683.jpg\")
The Future of Sogurt 2.0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Sogurt](\"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/product-shot-1024x768.jpg\")