Megafurniture is an online first furniture retailer, offering affordable, modern furniture. We hit it off when we first met them due to our common beliefs in producing great quality affordable products, and making sure the buying experience was tailored to the customer.
Featuring Ashla L-Shape Blue Velvet Fabric Sofa at Megafurniture
Image Credit: Megafurniture
Hi Teck Oon, we’re glad to have you on board as a partner. Please tell us more about yourself and your brand.
I studied math at NTU (Nanyang Technological University). My first job was in a bank, followed by a shipping company. Before starting Megafurniture, I had 2 other ventures that were not as successful. The first was selling beanbags, and the second one was selling furniture online. I then decided that for Mega, we had to focus on driving traffic to our website. For the previous furniture company that failed, we already had a showroom, and so the risk was greater. When it came to Mega, we first made sure to have enough website visitors before opening our showroom.
We are very data-driven, focusing on revenue generated from Google and Facebook ads when we started. We maintained our price competitiveness, gained steady volumes, shortened the lead times, and won our manufacturers’ trust.
Featuring Weavve Home TENCEL™ Lyocell Sheets in Midnight Blue and Sand Taupe Display at Megafurniture
How were your first years?
At the time when we started, it was way easier with lower cost. We just needed to get a showroom, renovate it and call our suppliers to bring their furniture down. It’s more challenging to do this now, where everyone else is trying to cut out the middleman.
Featuring Bailee 3 Seater Fabric Sofa from Megafurniture
Image credit: Megafurniture
What got you interested in a partnership between your brand and Weavve?
We wanted to increase our product range instead of just focusing on selling furniture. We were looking to offer some items that can complement the furniture that we have as well. We have tried selling bed sheets previously with another company, but it wasn't that successful, as the previous company that we worked with was much tenured, and we somehow had different views and approaches. Weavve has an approach that’s much more suitable for modern customers in this multi-channel retail age.
Featuring Weavve Home Towel Collection Display at Megafurniture
Featuring Weavve Home Lyocell Bed Linen & Weighted Blanket Display at Megafurniture Tai Seng
How do you see your brand’s positioning in the furniture market?
We took a very different approach from some of our competitors who opened showrooms but eventually had to shut down. The showroom has to serve a bigger purpose; it has to offer something that no other places can offer. If not, people can just buy these items online. What made the difference for us is that we allow customisation in our showrooms.
Share an interesting anecdote from when you first started your brand.
We started out at one of my partner’s houses. We would sit in the living room with all the printed invoices and sort them out on the floor. We then had to individually call our customers to arrange for delivery. At times, we would go out and deliver the orders too.
Featuring Tyler Fabric L-Shape Sofa from Megafurniture
Image credit: Megafurniture
How has this pandemic affected Megafurniture?
While a fair bit of showrooms closed, it helped that we had an online presence from the beginning. Though we had expenses such as rental and salaries that had to be paid, we managed to tide through these tough times as more people were buying online. In a way, we were lucky because the salespeople could still attend to the customers while at home. We used VOIP software and also Zendesk for customer service, which helped a lot.
Featuring MODULO Functional Fabric Sofa at Megafurniture
Image Credit: Megafurniture
What's something about your business or journey that would surprise people?
I think people expected us to fail at the start. Our startup capital was $1000 each. During the first year, we were just getting “吃饭钱” (pocket money for meals). Sales was quite bad to a point where one of my partners asked how much more time would it take for the business to take off as he had a house to pay for. I replied, “2-3 years”.
In a way, we were in too deep to just give up. If you ask me now whether I will be doing this for the rest of my life, my reply would be I don’t know, and probably not. It was not an easy journey when we first started out.
Featuring Terry Blue Sofa Bed at Megafurniture
Image Credit: Megafurniture
Summarise your brand in three words.
Modern, Affordable Furniture
What’s next for Megafurniture?
We have a lot coming up. We are looking for a new place with a bigger space. We feel that the current showroom at Hillview is too small to cater to our growing venture. We like the Tai Seng location because it is accessible for people to visit and buy furniture. Also, we want to focus on bringing in new products, such as mattresses with 100 day free returns, overseas expansion, and our higher-end designer in-house brand - Chattel.
Megafurniture
Website: https://megafurniture.sg/
Flagship Address: 29 Tai Seng Ave #03-03, Natural Cool Lifestyle Hub, Singapore 534119 (Nearest MRT: Tai Seng Mrt, Click here to view on Google Maps)
Address: 34 Hillview Terrace Singapore 669254 (Nearest MRT: Hillview MRT, Click here to view on Google Maps)
Operating Hours:
Monday to Sunday: 11.00am – 7.00pm
Tel: +65 6950 2657 / +65 6950 2657 (WhatsApp)
Email: enquiry@megafurniture.sg
Operating Hours:
Monday to Saturday: 12.00pm – 7.00pm
Weavve Products On Display:
✓ Bedsheets ✓ Weighted Blankets ✓ Towels
Cash and Carry Available In-Store
Check out the rest of our showrooms here!
