Chee Sukeats discovered his passion for skating when he was just 13. Life then intervened and when he graduated he went into advertising. Over the course of 7 years, he wrote copy and managed accounts for various agencies include O&M, a string of boutique agencies and finally, a boutique agency of his own.
Deciding that enough was enough, he decided to go back to his passion for skating and try to make living out of it. We sat down with Sukeats to talk to him on Wheel Love, his skate shop and how he grew his store into what could arguably be the most well-known skate shop in Kuala Lumpur.
Listen to your customers. It’s so simple. Some of our best tips came from our customers.
What made you start Wheel Love?
It started off because we wanted to do it. It was always something we wanted to do but never really said it out loud. We started off by producing our own caps and tees. Later we got a little more serious and started producing our own wheels. In 2009 I was getting tired of my advertising job and wanted to try something new. We then decided, it was now or never and took the plunge and started the shop.
How did you fund Wheel Love?
We used our savings and got a little bit of support from our parents. We started off very lean. We didn’t have all these products that you see on the wall now. We started out with just four skates on the wall with just a few sizes in stock! Our motto when starting out was beg, borrow and steal, haha! The display counter was from my cousin who used to deal in handphones, the pallets come from my partners day job and the couch was from home.
Can you give us an idea of what we can find in your store?
We have aggressive inline skates, slalom skates, quad-skates for roller derbies, fixed gear bikes, BMXes, longboards, skateboards, clothing, footwear, helmets, yo-yos, kendamas, fingerboards, wheels, bags, inline skate frames. Lots of stuff.
What sets Wheel Love apart from the rest of the skate shops in KL?
Well, we’d like to say that we’re skater owned and skater run but here in Malaysia that’s most of the skate shops anyway. We’re here in the shop everyday. I guess we know that we don’t know everything; the key is that we listen to our customers. We ask them what they want and what they like, then we get it for them. It’s that simple. Some of our best tips come from our customers.
We also come from a different background from other skate shops. With my background in marketing, we really emphasize on listening and responding to the customers. We answer all the emails and SMS queries we get. I also feel that we’re quite the community shop. We want to be a place where people can just hang around.
How long did it take you to start up Wheel Love?
The Wheel Love brand started earlier, we started it in 2005 but we didn’t do much with it. We hand-screened some tees and later on we tried manufacturing our own wheels. When we started the shop in 2009, it took us about three to four months to get the funds and design all worked out. The rest we learned along the way.
How long has it been around and how has it grown so far?
We started in 2005 and incorporated in 2009. I’m happy with our progress, there are no regrets at the moment. There were lessons learned along the way but no regrets. Sales are still growing month-on-month. We aren’t planning on another outlet right now. KL isn’t that big, so our customers know where to find us. One thing that we want to really concentrate on is distribution. Currently we’re the distributor for Bern helmets. We’re sort of the unofficial distributors for many other products since nobody else actually brings them in.
What are your strategies for Wheel Love?
I don’t really have a strategy but I have a philosophy: it’s knowing that we don’t know everything and making up for that by listening to our customers. Some products I really don’t like myself but the customers want them so we bring them in. We also support scenes that don’t have support. You’ve just got to support them and they’ll eventually find their place. We even sell yo-yos! What I always say is there are things you like, things your friends like and things your customers want. These three things rarely overlap. So yeah, listen to your customers.
How do you think Wheel Love will fit into the minds of KL/Malaysia?
I’m in it too deep, so I can’t really see. I hope they think of us well. I hope that when they think of non-motorized wheel sports they think of us first.
Wheel Love is has a pretty comprehensive online store. How’s that working out?
It’s what sets us apart from other shops in KL. It’s also the most tedious part of the business. Almost all of our stock is listed on the online store and putting them up can take a lot of time! It’s worth it though as a lot of our customers are the type who like to browse online. They see it online and when they come into the store, they’ve already made their choice and just come in to buy. I don’t have to explain or sell it to them, they already know what they want. The online store is not really automated right now (no shopping cart or checkout) but it’s something that we want to explore further. We’ve got a person working on that so we’ll see how that goes.
How does social media impact your business?
If I didn’t have anything but Facebook, I’d still be fine. Facebook is IT. We’ve been running our blog for years so we’ve gotten used to the habit of creating content. So that’s what we’ve brought to our Facebook wall. We dig up the most interesting news and videos and post them up to our wall. We get people telling us that our wall is the first thing they check when they get on Facebook because they know it’ll have new cool stuff on it. Hopefully, when they’re there they’ll also see our product announcements a few posts down and take note.
How does the news of a possible economic slowdown affect you?
We started in 2009 so… yeah. When we started we got warnings from everybody! You just gotta keep yourself lean. If it doesn’t work, get rid of it. You just learn.
Who do you consider a role model in your business?
Well, there was this skate shop called Ignition in Germany. They were in a village house, it was a skate shop cum bar. I saw that and thought to myself, “that’s what I want”. They’re not around anymore. They’re sort of role models to us because they gave us hints about what we really wanted to do but their situation also taught us to be realistic about money.
How does Wheel Love give back to the community?
A lot of things that we do, we do internally. We don’t broadcast them to the world. For example, one of our friends was going to teach in a school in Peru. They had a skateboard ramp but no skateboards. So we ran a campaign for them, got together old skateboards that people didn’t want anymore and similar items from other people. We packed it all in a big box and sent it over to them. There was a problem though, we didn’t plan on the customs and shipping. The costs of the customs and shipping nearly tore us apart! But we’re big believers in karma, so we went ahead and did it anyway.
We also help out by supporting local brands by carrying their goods. We remember how it was for us when we had to go knocking on doors to get our products in stores, so when folks come to us and ask if they can put their goods in Wheel Love, we say “sure!”
Wheel Love sponsors riders, we notice. What’s the criteria when you select a rider to represent Wheel Love?
Of course they have to skate well! It’s also about attitude, we want people who are good role models. We’re looking for the attitude to be right, for them to be cool guys. We also look out for people who deserve the sponsorship and people who can click with us.
How do sponsored riders benefit Wheel Love?
They’re brand ambassadors for Wheel Love and when a Wheel Love rider wins a competition (which is more often than not), it looks good on us too.
What are the perks of your job?
I get any skates that I want! I can change wheels and gear whenever I want. I do get a lot more friends now; I make lot of friends. Owning a shop and being in the shop all day opens up new windows for meeting people. Some of the best friends I have, I’ve met right here at the shop. It’s been 3 years and I’m still exited to go to work everyday!
What is it like in a day of work for you?
Get up. Go for a run. Open the shop. Get lunch; my wife is just upstairs, so that’s convenient. Do shop stuff; that may sound stressful but it’s not as bad as it sounds. Then it’s dinner and sometimes I skate. I’m usually done for the day by 10pm!
What goals do you have for Wheel Love
One of them is to take myself out of it. Not that I’m pulling out but I want the shop to be self-automated and run by itself.
Another thing we’d like to concentrate on is our distributorships. We’re currently the distributor for Bern helmets here and it’s been good. We’d like to try expanding that and maybe seeing if there are other opportunities for distributorship.
What can we expect from Wheel Love for the rest of 2012?
We’ll stay the course. Nothing has changed. Sometimes I revisit our business plan and I see that we’ve tried all that we wanted to try, so we’re still on track. There’s lots more to explore so we want to try our hands on many things; a skate school, talent management, product distribution, sports marketing, etc…
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