Homegrown brands in Malaysia usually start off by participating in bazaars or selling online.
With limited funding, it is difficult to penetrate into big retail malls. One way is to succeed collectively, as seen in LOKA, an initiative to foster the talents of the next generation brands so they can hopefully expand in Malaysia and even in the ASEAN region.
Located in NU Sentral, next to H&M, LOKA is home to startup brands like Ash Be Nimble, Cufica, Greenroom136 and many more.
Kamarulazhan Abdullah (co-founder of Cufica), Zye Ramli (LOKA store manager), Kamarul Akbar (co-founder of Cufica) and Patrick Lim (founder of Greenroom136) are advocates of homegrown brands.
Zye Ramli, the general manager of LOKA, has a lot of experience in mentoring startups. She was previously in publishing and media, public relations and subsequently worked on incubating startups in Malaysia. “LOKA is a movement, a curator of local brands. It is an organisation, a company, an agency that curates all local lifestyle brands under one roof.”
As Zye elaborates, the company that owns LOKA is called Gemilang 4E where the term 4E stands for “for entrepreneurs.”
“It is an entrepreneurship development agency that solicits for local designers and artists, asking them to come onboard and help them to elevate their businesses. The reason why Gemilang 4E does this is because they realised a couple of years back that the ministry and government gave a lot of support and attention to technology startups but not so much to lifestyle entrepreneurs.”
Nightwear and children’s wear are some of the offerings at LOKA (left). Eco-friendly bags are sold at LOKA (right).
Gemilang 4E took the initiative to start campaigns for the entrepreneurs. Zye noted also that they realised these local brands go for ground events like Tempatan Fest and Urbanscapes where they build their platform.
However, because they are designers, Zye is of the opinion that many of them lack business sense. “They don’t have the funds or capabilities to go into a premium mall so they keep on following these on ground events and e-commerce events but what we want to do is elevate their business to another level.”
LOKA approaches these homegrown brands by asking them to join in. Most of the brands were open to the idea because on their own they cannot afford the rental at such a premium space in a mall. So far, LOKA has amassed around 40 brands.
Each brand is given an individual space and they are on consignment basis. LOKA takes a percentage from the consignment. The space is not calculated as rental but the brands pay a service fee.
These colourful tassels will brighten up anyone’s mood (left). Doof bean bags are great alternatives to couches and chairs (right).
In return the LOKA ambassadors sell the products for them and LOKA runs marketing campaigns for individual brands too. All the brands under LOKA also sign an agreement where the products will be there for three months and under review for its sale performance.
After three months, both LOKA and the brand will decide whether to continue. It has to be a mutual decision between two parties meaning that you can’t just simply open a space one day and move out the next day.
Before LOKA opened, food was part of the plan but due to time constraints, they couldn’t bring in the food vendors on time. Currently the plan to bring in food is put on hold for the moment.
There are some homeware products but the majority are fashion, accessories and lifestyle products. Each brand goes through a screening process where they are evaluated based on their history and social media followers.
The brand also has to be the right product mix for LOKA. “We do get a lot of proposals. If we have too many street wear brands, I will have to see if they can compete with the current products or I have to put them on KIV (keep in view). If someone approaches me with something we don’t have and it looks interesting, we will look into it,” said Zye.
Choose from a variety of Malaysian brand shoes (left). Decorate your house with some greens (right).
The reason NU Sentral was chosen is because it is a good catchment area, a centralised location that serves the Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur market as well as a tourist hub. LOKA has launched their outdoor campaigns in Jalan Travers, Bangsar and parts of KL to also create a buzz for the shop.
“We haven’t launched a 100 per cent campaign yet. We will have escalator wraps in NU Sentral and KL Sentral and we plan to go to the campuses as well. There are 22 corporate buildings around KL Sentral and we will market to them too,” said Zye.
So, how do homegrown brands expand with the help of LOKA? “They are the brand custodians of their own products. LOKA will assist them in terms of elevating their standing in the market but at the end of the day, they are the brand custodians. So whatever they do out there, they have to give us enough support to complement each other. They need to find ways to get into market expansion. We provide the facilities for them but we can’t provide everything for everyone,” she said.
Ultimately, the brands have their own team and investors and should they need extra assistance, LOKA can step in to assist. The first phase of LOKA NU Sentral is completed and phase two would entail opening another outlet outside KL. Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Johor Bahru and Penang are places they are considering for phase two. For phase three, LOKA plans to expand to the ASEAN region.
With regards to LOKA, there are people curious enough to come and find out what’s available. “It has been encouraging. For two and a half months we are doing okay. There is buzz, talk and a lot of reviews. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are better,” said Zye.
Local bag brand Greenroom136 is one of the vendors at LOKA.Patrick Lim of local bag brand Greenroom136 is one of the first few vendors under LOKA. He started out his brand online and now he sells his products with LOKA.
“LOKA called me. So,they came by our studio and introduced the concept and we were interested. The emphasis is on local entrepreneurship, something we always advocate in our brand. Immediately we saw a brand fit. The fact that we have an opportunity to set up in a mall was the other pulling factor. We have been onboard since day one. We are expanding our operations, hiring more people for production and get things to the next level since being part of LOKA,” said Lim.
He feels that LOKA is a good opportunity for local independent brands who start up small to have an establishment to support the front line efforts. Being part of LOKA will be a permanent initiative by Greenroom136 as they want to expand as LOKA opens more outlets. It helps them to grow, an opportunity that is hard to come by for local brands. Lim said that if he called a premium mall, they would prefer to pick an international brand rather than a local one.
“We started off as an online business and we sell products that are RM300 and above. We pride ourselves on quality. Some customers are bitten by the made in Malaysian bug so when you have a higher price, they feel it is dubious so it is better that they can touch and feel the product in person. So it is a win-win all across,” he said.
Another vendor at LOKA is Cufica, a Muslim lifestyle product brand that sells home decor and fashion apparel. It was started by friends Kamarulazhan Abdullah and Kamarul Akbar. The products are designed by them personally and made in Malaysia. “We joined LOKA since December and so far, it’s been good. Our sales and performance have increased since being part of LOKA. The location is good and it is easier for our customers to buy our products,” said Kamarulazhan. As the duo are based in Sentul, the shop at NU Sentral is also a strategic spot for them. Cufica started having a lot of new followers since being part of LOKA. They also started getting international customers that is a boost for the brand. Kamarulazhan said that they plan to stick around with LOKA as long as they can.