Vivy Yusof on building a fashion empire

As the force behind fashion e-commerce site Fashion Valet (FV), Vivy Yusof is one helluva businesswoman.

From a modest startup established six years ago, FV has grown into an empire with physical stores in two countries.

“It started with only three people and 10 brands in 2010 and now with almost 200 employers and 500 brands from Southeast Asia,” said Vivy, who founded the company with FV chief executive officer and husband, Fadzarudin Anuar.

Her forte in fashion started in 2008 as a fashion and beauty blogger. The business has gone from strength to strength as a successful startup that has rocked the shopping scene in the region.

Managing companies

The 29-year-old mother of two also stressed that nothing beats having a good team to support her business.

Indeed, it is a plus point for her to be have a dedicated team to manage FV and dUck – a muslimah lifestyle label which was borne out of her love for fashion.

“I don't have to be so hands-on all the time, I checked with them all the time and in that sense, we communicate. Communication is the key.

“Apart from that, having offices that is located nearby is crucial and it is also because dUck and FV is intertwined in some ways,” she added.

Online to offline

6 years ago when she started her online site, not many people shop online and one of the thing that she did with the team was educating people through her blog and FV website on how to shop online.

Vivy understand that in order to improved, and for the company to expand to accommodate different circle, she went offline from being online. Launched the third store of FV yesterday; she said that physical store catches a different market that they didn't have by just having an online avenue.

“For any company to really go big, they need to be in both online and offline,” said Vivy, on the climate of the current marketplace of online business.

The trials and tribulations

Two years after FV was established in 2012, Vivy admittedly said that it was not easy to steer the company to where it is now.

With new competitors emerging into the market, they felt the need to spend more on online marketing in their effort to get some brands only to lose customers as some of the owners felt that FV is becoming quantity over quality.

They quickly learnt their lessons and got back on track. The visionary Vivy and her team were constantly finding their niche and curated her own brand and did what they are good at, and why they are unique and what people will see from them.

Vivy feels that they need to be very focused on getting good Asian designers to help the growth of the brand.

“No such things as wasting time anymore ... it’s really making the most out of your time,” said Vivy on the importance of time management.

Future of the industry

Vivy established its third FV third store at The Pavilion in mid-December and with the latest 'baby', she stressed that all she wanted to do was to focus on expanding her businesses in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei extensively.

According to her, VIvy is poised to join the ivy league of retailers in Jakarta but she is quick to point out that the capital is not easy to penetrate.

“Future of the industry is bright because online doesn't know limit – to where we can ship, to know how much we can grow or how far we can reach people, there’s so much to do in Fashion Valet,” on future of the industry, before she ended her interview.