Pomelo kickstarts SEA expansion with first Singapore flagship store

• Pomelo app’s ‘In-Store Mode’ will debut for the first-time ever in Singapore
• The 6,000 square feet store will house Pomelo’s full catalogue of 8,000 products

OMNICHANNEL fast fashion company Pomelo opened its Singapore flagship store on June 12, 2019 at 313@somerset. The largest Pomelo store to date, and the first outside of its native Thailand, the store boosts the brand’s Southeast Asian presence to nine outlets. Pomelo’s regional expansion represents their bid to bring a successful omnichannel business model to the Southeast Asian fashion and lifestyle industry.

While Pomelo is not unfamiliar to Singaporeans, having already served the Singapore market for six years since 2013, the flagship store rounds out Pomelo’s omnichannel strategy, offering customers a seamless online-to-offline (O2O) experience across desktop, mobile and offline channels.

“Our omnichannel strategy is built upon our ability to provide a variety of retail options,” says Pomelo Fashion chief executive officer David Jou. “Features like Pomelo Pick Up, which allow customers to try on their online purchases and only pay for what they take home have proven to be extremely successful in Thailand.

“As a fashion brand with tech DNA that places customer experience at the forefront, we’re excited to finally launch a core tech-driven Pomelo offering to better meet the needs of our Singapore shoppers.”

Tech-integrated offline store

Representing a true omnichannel experience, Pomelo Pick Up combines the convenience of online shopping with the surety afforded by offline retailing, which lets customers test out a product’s look and feel.

As a fully tech-enabled process, Pomelo Pick Up is geared towards shopping habits of modern consumers that place a premium on convenience.

Pomelo customers looking to pick up their online orders can do so by scanning a QR code at a self-service kiosk before proceeding to a fast lane to collect their packages.

To ascertain fit, one of the biggest consumer woes in online retailing, customers can then try on the items they have picked out at one of the 14 wheelchair-friendly fitting rooms, booked through the fitting room booking system on in-store mini iPads. The feature, which enters customers into a virtual queue, is also available to offline customers.

These functions can also be accessed through the Pomelo app’s ‘In-Store Mode’, which will be debuted for the first-time ever in Singapore.

Tailored for a local fit

The Singapore flagship store spans over 6,000 square feet and will house Pomelo’s full catalogue of 8,000 products across different product lines such as Pomelo, menswear collection PM., sportswear collection Alita, and Purpose, the brand’s sustainable collection.

Pomelo’s first cosmetics line, Beet, launched in April 2019, will also be sold at the store.

Recognising that consumer tastes vary by region, Pomelo’s Singapore store will also stock collections tailored to local tastes, including seasonal collections for Ramadan, Christmas, and Chinese New Year.

“Delivering the best customer experience has always been a key tenet of our business, and what works for one market may not necessarily work for another,” Jou explains. “Our research shows that Singaporeans shop very differently from Thais, with workwear, modestwear, occasionwear and beachwear being particularly popular in Singapore. Responding to this consumer demand, we have made it a point to stock these styles in our Singapore store.”