A BOOM in online shopping has put entrepreneurs on the receiving end of business success.
The team at Kheper Athleisure have no regrets about being an online-only brand and experienced a boom in sales when South Africans migrated to the online shopping world of “click and collect” and home deliveries.
Mena Kooger and her husband Martin are the founders and co-owners of Kheper, which they started in 2017.
Kooger said: “We envisioned the business to be a space where women of all sizes could come and find something for themselves that was made for activewear. We found there was a huge gap in the market, where people would only go up to a large if it was activewear, they wouldn’t cater for extra large, 2XL and 3XL.”
From their home in Table View, they began production with just one seamstress and sold their fashionable activewear online.
Kooger said: “We started with one seamstress and then in April 2019 moved into the bigger house and it was the best decision we could ever have made. Our business flourished, now in 2021 we have 12 employees.”
The announcement of the lockdown last year left the Koogers panicked as their business was built on importing fabrics and producing their clothes in Cape Town.
“The future didn’t look too bright when lockdown happened because we were so nervous, we couldn’t import any fabric. This was a big deal for us because if we can’t get fabric we can’t manufacture new products or restock existing products,” said Mena.
With everyone indoors and focused on new health goals, Mena said their athleisure business picked up quickly.
“The most incredible thing happened, the online industry within 90 days experienced 10 years worth of growth. Our sales were phenomenal during the lockdown. Possibly because people were at home, they re-evaluated their fitness and health because of the pandemic and people became much more active than ever before,” she said.
As an established online-only business, she said clients were confident that the items would be delivered to their doorstep.
“We experienced a growth spurt. First with the launch of our masks – we had over 1 000 orders. Fabric stores in Cape Town opened up and we were able to go into those stores and say: ’How can we add a new product line that would be part of our brand?’ We then launched SLounge Wear in June 2020, our new range of tracksuits and tops,” she said.
In August 2020, Kheper also moved into a factory space in Parklands. Kooger said it was all thanks to the growth in sales and their brand.
“We moved into a 320m² factory space and that was one of the biggest growth points. In November 2020 we were able to launch swimwear … Now we are in talks with other brands about collaborations.”
Although there are many online shopping websites where small businesses can sell their wares, Kooger said that for now it is in the best interest of their business to keep sales and marketing on their own website.
“The brand will never be in any retailer. We won’t sell our brand on another online platform because we can control the market. If we launch a new product we control the communication, the look and feel, and the fact that we have direct access to our clients means that we can move swiftly to fix issues and respond to our clients.”
Part of their business goal is to launch a menswear athleisure range soon, as well as continue to increase their staff compliment and sales both at home in South Africa and globally.