Owner, 8 BoConcept stores
in New York and New Jersey
Niki Cheng personifies success through stick-to-itiveness and the fine art of flying by the seat of your pants. Born and raised in Malaysia, she resisted her traditional Asian mother’s wish that she pursue banking and came to the United States to study at Parsons the New School of Design in New York City, working in restaurants to pay for her education. She graduated in 2000 and, unable to find an interior design job, worked in a high-end furniture store where she discovered that, despite speaking less than perfect English, she was great at sales. But it wasn’t until she and her husband, Shaokao, were renovating their apartment that they both realized furniture was either cheap and lackluster or prohibitively expensive.
They happened to see a magazine ad from a relatively unknown Denmark-based furniture manufacturer called BoConcept touting a $299.00 coffee table practically identical to one sold by Niki’s employer for $2,000.00. Niki and her husband, despite having no experience running a retail store, contacted the company’s head office about opening a franchise in New York. They were turned down. Unfamiliar with the Big Apple, BoConcept was wary of the expense and the city’s cut-throat reputation. The Chengs tracked down an affordable, retail-ready space and tried again. This time, BoConcept agreed.
Today Niki and Shaokao own eight franchises in New York and New Jersey that are consistently ranked among the top performing BoConcept stores in the world. At last the couple can sit down and relax on the quality, comfortable furniture that started it all.
What we learned from Niki: There’s nothing in business you can’t figure out. Answers are everywhere. Take the time to find them and you’ll be unstoppable.
Risky Business
My husband was 30 and I was 29 when we bought the BoConcept furniture franchise. We borrowed $300,000.00 against our apartment to get the business off the ground. Plan A was to succeed and repay the loan. Plan B was to lose the apartment and move to Virginia and live with my husband’s parents. We were taking an incredible risk because we had no clue how to run a retail store. It’s a good thing we were so young.
Identifying a Need
BoConcept pieces look expensive but they’re not. We really believed there was a need for quality, affordable furniture and we were determined to fill it. We built a beautiful space and opened for business. My sister and brother worked for our company and my dad did the cleaning. We did everything possible ourselves and were very frugal, spending money only on essentials needed to stay in business. For instance, our rent at 30th and Madison was lower than low. Our landlord wanted to improve the area and was thrilled to have us there.
Grand Opening, Take Two
Our franchise included the BoConcept computer system. Unfortunately none of us had taken the time to learn how to use it before we opened. From the start we were selling like crazy but we had no idea how to set up deliveries or process orders! We had to close the store for three days for computer training boot camp.
Building a Business
By our second year in business, the back office was still not perfect but it was functional. Selling was never a problem. People loved our products. But we were far from home-free. We never spent money on ourselves; everything went into the business. And working with BoConcept was like the blind leading the blind. They were more interested in design and had about as much business experience as we did. We eventually created our own systems and stopped using theirs. We basically built our own business using their products. That’s why we were so well prepared to open a second store.
Building a Family
By the time we opened the second store in 2004, we knew we were on to something. We hired more people and learned to communicate with them and build a real company culture. BoConcept was so excited about our success that they asked us to take over two of their other stores, which led to three more in 2006. Today we have eight.
Fun with Marketing
National marketing is done by the corporate office but we handle the local. This is the fun part. We do book signings and parties in the stores, we provide furniture for charity events, and we got to set up the VIP lounge at Fashion Week. We want our store and our brand to be inviting and familiar.
Branding Quality and Affordability
I’ve really turned BoConcept into a respected brand because I saw a need and filled it. That’s what entrepreneurship is all about.
This Featured Lady was profiled by Susie Lacey, Associate Editor, Ladies Who Launch.
