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Declan Ee Castlery
The head of the Singapore-founded furniture retailer applied his 10 years of experience in finance when he decided to launch his own business . Here , he discusses making highquality wares attainable , what his company does and doesn ’ t have in common with much of the direct-to-consumer cohort , and what makes for meaningful work .
By Heather McIlvaine
Inside Retail : It ’ s no secret that a lot of retailers are struggling right now . How are you navigating the current economic climate ? Declan Ee : It ’ s a topic close to my heart because I think there ' s a whole generation of people – I won ' t even call them customers – who have almost been left behind . There ' s a generation that has property , then there ’ s a new pool that isn ’ t even thinking about a home yet , and then there ’ s this group in the middle . When I speak to some of my team members , it ' s those people we ’ re fighting for . So ultimately , we are selling furniture , but what are we solving for ? All these seamless customer experiences , all that aside , we ’ re solving for attainability . We ’ re making materials like marble – that were unattainable – attainable . That ' s what we ' re fighting for . If we continue to stay true to that , we will have a market .
IR : Castlery launched in 2013 during the rise of direct-to-consumer ( DTC ) brands like Warby Parker and Everlane . These were brands being started by people probably in their late 20s or early 30s , who were catering to Millennial customers , who were maybe quicker to shop online , but also had a certain aesthetic expectation . Over the years , we ' ve seen some of those businesses fall by the wayside and others evolve . I ' m curious whether you see Castlery as part of that cohort , and what you think is the future of DTC . DE : It ' s an interesting question . We were definitely inspired by that cohort . But being a banker for 10 years , I was very clear that financing model did not work .
I think what they did well was digital marketing – using Facebook and Google as a channel to acquire customers when it was cheap and nobody else was doing it – and having a very distinct point of view , which appealed to a new generation of customers . But it was obvious very quickly that if we had done that as a furniture company , we would have imploded . If you think about it , most furniture brands that started from 2010 to 2013 actually went bankrupt . Made . com went bankrupt . Interior ►
August 2024 www . insideretail . asia 43