Christy Ng: A successful entrepreneur needs practical minded

ChristyNg.com founded on 17 July 2010 is the most famous online shoes store in the country and was featured in television shows of ASTRO and TV3. ChristyNg.com is selling variety of handmade woman shoes ranging from high heel shoes, wedges, ballerina flats, sandals, wedding shoes and custom-made shoes. It sold over 500 pairs of shoes every month either to local or foreign markets.

Christy Ng, the founder of ChristyNg.com who also won as ‘Web Entrepreneur of the year’ during the DiGi WWWOW Award was invited to attend an exclusive interview with VSDaily, to share her startup experience in e-commerce.

VSD: What made you start ChristyNg.com?
Christy: I wanted to make online shopping more interesting by creating good quality and unique woman’s high heel shoes. Also, I wanted to take a conventional business and digitize it online via e-commerce. Besides, the Internet is my gateway to the world.

VSD: Why do you choose shoes?
Christy: Shoes are a girl’s best friend and women market is a huge potential market.

VSD: What were the challenges faced during your business setup?
Christy: Challenges faced were mostly on the production end. We need to source quality materials to produce great products at reasonable cost.

VSD: Who are your competitors? How do you stand out from the competition?
Christy: Basically, our competitors are everyone who sells ladies shoes online. E-commerce is highly competitive and we strive to stand out by creating unique products at reasonable prices , we also go the extra mile for clients by producing custom-made shoes and we take pride in our customer service and user experience when purchasing from us.

VSD: How do you promote your online store effectively?
Christy: Word of mouth is the most effective way. The best way to promote your store is to have a great product. A great product sells by itself.

VSD: What do you think about e-commerce in Malaysia?
Christy: I think Malaysia is ready for e-commerce and the future is online. We have sufficient data coverage and internet access is widely available in Malaysia. Also, online shopping offers a more convenient way for consumers to purchase the products they one especially when our lifestyles are getting busier.

VSD: Do you agree high shipping fee is stopping e-commerce to move forward?
Christy: Yes, high shipping fee is one of the obstacles in e-commerce specifically if you have plans for a vertical expansion cross border to countries in Europe and the USA.

VSD: In your opinion, what are the factors can contribute the growth of e-commerce in the country?
Christy: I think all web store owners should sell responsibly. Do not promise to deliver a product when you can’t do it. Do not sell a product when you actually do not have stock to conduct the fulfilment. Also, do not sell a product and not pay the supplier of the product on time. It gives you a bad name online. I personally feel that certain foreign e-commerce sites are spoiling the e-commerce market in this country by giving bad shopping experiences to Malaysians. This way, people will lack confidence to shop online. Online shopping should be safe, fun and secure. This will propel the industry to grow. We have safe and secure payment systems available now in Malaysia. All we need to focus on now is having more reliable online merchants and improving the customer service standards for online shopping in the country.

VSD: What do you want to achieve over the next five years?
Christy: We are planning to expand our product range and penetrate into different market places around the world. I hope to see ChristyNg.com become one of the more popular shoe sites in the world.

VSD: What kind of characteristics a successful entrepreneur should have?
Christy: A successful entrepreneur has to be practical minded and have the right thought processes. Cash flow management is a crucial part of ensuring your business is a sustainable one or not.

by Alice Lee

Author: Terry KS

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