SMU Undergrad Helps ‘Boomer Mum’ Promote Light Shop On TikTok
Small and medium-sized enterprises are Singapore’s pride and joy when it comes to driving the local economy and providing jobs for citizens.
But, what happens when they struggle to keep up with the modern ways of digital marketing and viral content?
For 22-year-old Singapore Management University (SMU) business undergraduate Megan Lee, this is where she steps in.
She has taken on the mantle of saving her “Boomer Mum”, 61-year-old Samantha Ong’s light shop Light + Form Concepts in Balestier.
In a series of TikTok videos, Megan has shared the process of overhauling the store’s brand — with her first video in the series having since gone viral, clocking in a massive 10.3 million views at the time of writing.
MS News sat down with Megan and Samantha to learn more about how Light + Form Concepts started, the challenges they face, and how they plan to move forward.
Boomer mum ‘plunged into’ light shop business in the 90s
Light + Form Concepts had its start with Samantha’s father back in the early-1990s. Subsequently, she was “plunged into” the business sometime in 1994 when her father roped her in.
“It wasn’t my choice per se, but of course I’ve grown to love it,” the 61-year-old stated.
Having now run the shop for about 30 years with the help of her sister, Samantha confessed that every decade had its ups and downs.
Notably, she remembers the 2013 to 2018 period to be quite stable.
The problem came with the advent of online shopping and e-commerce, but it was not very noticeable in 2019.
When Covid-19 reached its peak in Singapore in 2020, that was when the challenges became hardest to ignore.
“That was when, I think, people’s buying patterns changed – everybody migrated online, naturally. This has been difficult to ride through so far.”
Apart from changing consumer habits, the pandemic has also driven up the store’s operation costs.
“Now, things are moving much faster – so many costs have gone up after Covid-19, you can’t imagine! These include overheads such as rental costs, and especially so for staff salaries,” she explained.
“We understand that all our staff members are facing difficulties after the pandemic with the rising cost of living. Not to mention the GST hikes – from 7% to 8%, next year it’ll be 9%. With increases in so many things, it’s really quite difficult to grapple with.”
Light + Form Concepts also faces stiff competition locally and regionally.
“We are close to Johor. Singaporeans go there to eat, shop, and buy everything, including lights and furniture. So of course, with the exchange rates and lower costs over there, it’s easy for people to buy and bring the items back.”
Even though costs are low across the causeway, Samantha urges Singaporeans to support local whenever they can, as the service here is usually worth the higher cost.
22-year-old university student spent childhood at light shop with mum
For Samantha’s 22-year-old daughter, Light + Form Concepts was her childhood.
Megan and her brother would bring sleeping bags to the brick-and-mortar store in Balestier when they were younger just so they could sleep in the back office while their mum worked.
“As we grew older, when I became a teenager and especially in recent years, I started to realise that she’s been working very long hours to make sure everything is going smoothly and help with closing the store,” Megan noted.
She then added jokingly, “To me, that’s freedom because that means that I can go out and come back whenever I want.”
“Oh, I see! That’s what you’ve been up to!” Samantha said, playing along.
But, in all seriousness, Megan has witnessed the effort her mother has put in over the years to keep the shop afloat.
Started TikTok page to boost ‘boomer mum’s’ business online presence
As a Gen Z, 22-year-old Megan thinks that the biggest issue plaguing the shop currently is its lack of online presence – something which she hopes to solve with her TikTok series.
@lightandform On my mission to save my boomer mom’s light shop 💡 #fyp #firstvideo #lights ♬ original sound – Light+Form
Megan’s “mission to save [her] boomer mum’s light shop” started when the latter asked her to run Light + Form Concept’s Instagram page.
At that point, Megan shared that they were still using stock images for the Instagram page, which she felt would not stand out to the audience.
On the other hand, TikTok as a platform allows her to be more creative with her approach. This would in turn help “show a different side” of the shop, she said.
Knowing how TikTok has become more popular among social media users in recent years, she convinced her mother that it is what they need to focus on instead in order to build brand awareness.
“I think there’s a common misconception that shops along this street are all the same and offer the same products. But, my mum curates a lot of good stuff across different brands and regions. So, it’s been tough trying to differentiate ourselves.”
At the same time, Megan aims to optimise the store’s inventory to show off her mother’s discerning eye.
Cutting down on how much they display in-store is one of the ways she hopes to do so.
No set timeline for how long TikTok series will last
On where she got her flair for formulating and editing viral videos from, Megan confessed, “There was a point in time when I watched a lot of TikToks, trying to avoid other responsibilities.”
Specifically, Megan lists content similar to those of American YouTuber Casey Neistat as reference points.
She learned from them while still trying to inject her own style into the videos she makes, with added help from a friend who is a content creator.
Now that she has successfully launched Light + Form Concepts on TikTok, one might wonder how far Megan wants to take this, considering the fact that she is doing all this during her free time outside of university.
“I guess we don’t really have a definite timeline. The hope is that we can do it for as long as possible,” the 22-year-old nodded.
@lightandform The pitch… how do you think I did? 💡#fyp #lights #pitch ♬ original sound – Light+Form
“We’ll also monitor the reactions to it. So, in terms of the content we’re going to produce, we’ll see what the viewers like. Since I first started this, I wanted to show the viewers what goes on behind-the-scenes and get the brand and the variety of products we have out there – with my mum’s approval, of course!”
She highlighted that the pair still have some things they have yet to agree on, such as their target audience.
“Samantha’s target audience is everyone,” the daughter laughed. “Whereas for me, I want to narrow it down as far as possible, so I still need to convince her on that.”
Mum says giving up on light shop is not an option
Megan’s next goal? To ramp up their e-commerce abilities, she said plainly.
As their TikTok has generated not only local support but from other countries as well, she wants to one day be able to find a more cost-effective way of shipping their fragile products overseas.
But right now, her short-term goal is to at least complete her university degree.
“As to whether or not I’ll help out more at the shop – I haven’t really thought that far. I’m just helping her with what we have currently,” she admits.
At this time, it is still too early to tell whether or not she will eventually take over the business as she would then have to dedicate more time learning about the technical aspects of the lighting industry.
She remarked in jest, “If the shop makes money, then yeah, I’ll take over!”
When asked what they would do if – after all the TikToks and rebranding efforts – the business still does not work out, Samantha replied with determination, “No, it’s not an option at all. We are working towards not letting that happen.”
Also read: 21-Year-Old S’pore PR Drops Out Of Uni To Save Family’s Restaurant, Now Works There Full-Time
21-Year-Old S’pore PR Drops Out Of Uni To Save Family’s Restaurant, Now Works There Full-Time
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Featured image by MS News. Photography by Iskandar Rossali.
