“Some people talk to animals. Not many listen, though. That’s the problem,” cautioned AA Milne, from whose pen the beloved fictional animals of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet have been so vividly drawn into our imagination. Growing up on a farm, surrounded by an animal menagerie of their very own, brothers David and Robert Ng can hardly be accused of not listening to animals. The pet-loving siblings shared a single goal — to open Singapore’s first shop devoted to supplying everything the family pet could ever want.
The brothers’ early research and development activities consisted of converting car cushions into cat baskets and using carpet offcuts as scratch pads in their quest to build up an inventory.
Their ambition was finally achieved in 1973 with the opening of Pet Lovers Centre, in Shaw Centre. It was Singapore’s first pet store and still stands proudly today, one of the chain’s 65 stores in the city.
The second generation has inherited their father’s and uncle’s passion for pets, and three of Robert’s sons have taken their place at the helm of the family business. “My father and uncle had the foresight to spot the gaps in the pet industry back in 1973, but Pet Lovers Centre was very much treated as a family hobby business until the second generation took over in 1995,” says David Ng Whye Tye, the CEO of Pet Lovers Centre. “At that time in Singapore, pet owners were feeding their pets whatever food scraps they could lay their hands on. In the West, however, there was a whole industry growing up around specialist manufactured pet food. They recognised the opportunity that the concept presented locally. The shop in Shaw Centre really created a stir and was a success from the moment the doors opened,” he recalls proudly. “My family was responsible for bringing so many products to the Singapore market for the first time: items like dry, extruded dog food, anti-flea and tick shampoo, and nutritional supplements for pets.”
“The date was a good one because, if I didn’t succeed, then it would probably be the best April Fool’s joke ever.” – David Ng Whye Tye
An engineer by training, David spent the decade after graduating from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, immersed in the electronics industry, both in North America and back on home soil in Singapore. He joined the family business on 1 April 2003.
The date was deliberate. “I was giving up a nice, cushy role,” he says, as a senior global account manager for Axcelis Technologies, the American provider of equipment and services to the semiconductor manufacturing industry, “to build something from the ground up. It’s something that is not very easy to do. The date was a good one because, if I didn’t succeed, then it would probably be the best April Fool’s joke ever.”
David first joined his brother Whye Hoe, and Whye Keong joined thereafter (the current Managing Director and CFO respectively) and “together we’ve taken the company from where it was, with one store, to the 97 we have today across South East Asia.” Along with its Singapore stores, Pet Lovers Centre has expanded to include branches in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei. Both Singapore and Malaysia are also home to its The Pet Safari concept stores — pet megastores that encourage owners to include their pets in the shopping experience. The Pet Safari store in Singapore’s Nex shopping mall even boasts a rooftop play park for pets.
“If we talk about the key milestones since I came onboard in 2003, that very same year we started our first store overseas, in Malaysia. That’s definitely a highlight.” At the time, the 28,000-square-foot The Pet Safari store at Ikano Power Centre was the largest of its kind and won the company a place in the Malaysia Book of Records. A quick look at petloverscentre.com and it doesn’t take long to understand the sheer scale of its range. Pet lovers can indulge their furry (or scaly) companions with the latest in food, bedding, clothing, grooming and toys, or purchase health supplements to keep them in top form. The business is the only store of its kind in Singapore to have vet-trained, pet-care consultants stationed in its stores to provide professional pet-care advice and to offer customers on-time delivery to their doorsteps, as well as the option to make purchases and check their membership points online.
Robert and David grasped early on the value in creating their own products, and by 1996 had introduced two house brands to the market: Trustie, a range of pet accessories, and Burp! pet food. Both ranges have grown to become trusted names in pet supplies. Today, the impressive selection stocked by Pet Lovers Centre is hovering close to 14,000 individual products. What really sets the company apart, however, is the series of extra services it has cleverly introduced to appeal to those pet owners who consider their pooch or kitty a fully fledged member of the family and like to treat them accordingly.
This includes a stylish pet taxi, a day-care facility which comes with a webcam to allow owners to check on their pets remotely, training, spa services, and an instore dog bakery in select stores which sells freshly baked and preservative-free sweet and savoury treats such as pizza, meatballs and doughnuts.
Visitors to the website are also able to consult pet-parenting tutorials hosted by industry experts, addressing topical issues such as the use of essential oils for pets, behavioural tips, organic diets for animals, and approaches to holistic pet care. “We’ve been able to educate people in the region on how to look after their pets. That’s been an important achievement for us,” he says.
Opportunity to innovate has also arisen from Singapore’s strict regulations around veterinary qualifications. “There’s no veterinary school in Singapore, and the government only recognises vets with degrees from the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand,” he explains. “So we’ve been able to hire qualified vets from the Philippines as instore pet-care consultants.” Offering advice on both health and nutritional subjects, many of the consultants have been with the company for years, he says, “but twice a month we have an afternoon training session to keep them up to date with the latest knowledge.
“Success in retail is more than just about bringing a product into the store and simply selling it.” – David Ng Whye Tye
“From training to staff remuneration to data analytics, everything that we do on a daily basis has one thing in common: to strive to give the best to our customers and our pets,” he continues. “By focusing on customer service, we’re able to maintain a group of very loyal customers. Therefore, we’re very meticulous,” he says.
When reflecting on his leadership, David acknowledges the influence of his technical background. “I manage the entire business as if it was a factory. We’re extremely automated.” This form of organisation, he believes, is a key strength of Pet Lovers Centre. “It makes us very successful because it allows us to be extremely productive.”
The lessons he has learned from his Six Sigma Black Belt training (undertaken during his time working for Seagate Technology, a data storage company in the US) have equipped David with the necessary techniques to undertake detailed analysis across the organisation’s entire processes. “I measure every aspect of the business,” he says, “from our products to how much our customers like us. All this translates to one main goal, which is productivity.”
“Productivity,” he shares, is paramount, since “it allows us to be sustainable today and tomorrow. You’d be surprised how much engineering work is put into the company to be able to grow and manage the business,” he says, drawing further parallels to his previous career. “We have a very strong management team,” emphasising the importance of family. “My brothers and I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we have without the support of our family and shareholders.” He continues, “We also have a strong technical team that allows us to develop our KPIs and processes. This, in itself, is a very powerful edge over our competitors because success in retail is more than just about bringing a product into the store and simply selling it.”
One of his current areas of focus is creating a seamless ‘click-and-mortar’ shopping experience. “We know that we have several brick-and-mortar stores, but we’re really talking about the omnichannel right now. With the support of a strong marketing team, we’re able to provide a complete omni-environment. We have our stores, we also have the digital channel, and now we have social media. We’re very much integrated in this complex web, and the people who are running our business understand that. The world has changed, and so we have to be willing to change alongside.”
In the four decades since the store first opened its doors in Shaw Centre, Pet Lovers Centre has been awarded its fair share of accolades, including the Excellent Service Award by the Singapore Retailers Association/Spring Singapore in 2002, the Top 10 Best Pet Shop Award by PETAS (Pets Enterprises & Traders Association) in 2004 and 2005, and the Singapore Prestige Brand Award (SPBA) 2008 – Overall Winner (Heritage Brands) by ASME/Lianhe Zaobao/Citibank/EDB in 2008.
For David, however, there’s one which means more than most. “In 2013, Pet Lovers Centre was crowned Winner of the Global PETS Award in Prague,” he beams. “The award is one of the most prestigious in the industry and we’re the first Asian retailer to win it.” In awarding the prize, the judges commended the company for not only its products and services, but also the innovation displayed in its use of modern communication methods.
Of course, a little celebrity endorsement does no harm either. “Famous dog trainer Cesar Millan comes to Singapore frequently and, because we’re the largest pet shop chain in Singapore, he works together with us.” In 2012, Pet Lovers Centre hosted a meet-and-greet for 700 of its VIP customers with the famed Mexican–American dog behaviourist best known for his television series Dog Whisperer. A firm friendship has since been established. “Whenever he’s in town, my brothers and I will catch up with him for dinner.”
“Our strategic supplier relationships have allowed us to grow the business at a rapid pace which, in turn, has provided our suppliers with good volume, good brand focus, and tons of word-of-mouth brand support from the Pet Lovers Centre team.” – David Ng Whye Tye
Being Singapore’s largest pet shop chain has its advantages. “Because of our size, we’re able to keep up with the latest global trends and ensure that the best products are quickly introduced to the markets we serve. We can continue to keep pet lovers excited.” He acknowledges that this would not be possible without a close relationship with his suppliers, whom he is quick to distinguish between.
“We have two levels of suppliers,” he explains. “The first suppliers are local distributors. They have a portfolio of products that they import into Singapore and sell to me, but, of course, also to our competitors. The other group of suppliers are from outside Singapore. They’re from all over the world, from the US, the UK, Norway, Australia, Malaysia and Thailand.” The relationships with these international suppliers are much more profound, and many involve exclusive distribution rights. “Pet Lovers Centre is their distributor in Singapore and in many parts of South East Asia,” he continues. “We distribute their products within our network of stores.”
David personally manages many of these mutually beneficial relationships. “Our strategic supplier relationships have allowed us to grow the business at a rapid pace which, in turn, has provided our suppliers with good volume, good brand focus, and tons of word-of-mouth brand support from the Pet Lovers Centre team.”
He recognises, however, the importance of creating a balance between the two supplier networks. “The local suppliers are very important, as we realise we cannot possibly import everything ourselves; therefore, we need to work very closely with them to ensure we continue to have the depth of range that we have.”
In late 2014, the company moved into new corporate premises at Singapore’s North Spring Bizhub and christened the building IHQ to reflect its international expansion. The company motto, ‘Asia’s preferred pet store’, reflects how far the company has come from its early days on Scotts Road at the Shaw Centre. It’s a growth that’s showing no sign of abating. “In Europe, Fressnapf has 1,300 stores across 12 countries and Pets at Home has 360 stores in the UK. In the US, Petco has 1,300 stores and PetSmart has 1,400 stores. These are the major global players. I see Pet Lovers Centre growing to 1,000 stores across the region to become one of them,” he says.
The burning question is left until last. Does David have any furry friends of his own? “Of course,” he enthuses. “It’d be quite hard to be in this business and not be a pet owner.” Growing up breeding rabbits and surrounded by dogs, turtles and terrapins, today he limits himself to pet koi fish. “They swim in my garden and I don’t have to walk them!” he laughs, before admitting that he’s too busy for anything more. “When my old dog passed away, we made a conscious decision not to have another dog because we felt that we would not be responsible pet parents. A dog requires a lot of commitment; you cannot just leave them at home because they need companionship.”
Despite a schedule that keeps him away from home for long stretches of time, David makes sure the company finds time to give back to the community through its CSR program. The Pet Lovers Foundation was established in 2009 with a large charter, which ranges from fundraising on behalf of Singapore’s abandoned pet shelters to organising visits to schools and retirement homes. Some of its initiatives include The Common Cause calendar, which has raised close to S$100,000 to help support animal shelters and stray animals living on the streets; donations to Club Rainbow (Singapore), a not-for-profit organisation which raises funds to support children living with chronic illnesses so that they can live enriching lives; its Adopt 1st! Initiative, a drive to help homeless companion animals find good homes; and a partnership with Free Coffee Sunday (FCS) to serve food and beverages to the migrant community on the first Sunday of every month.
“We believe we’re successful in the society where we reside simply because our customers accept us for what we do. To say thank you for this success, we need to make sure we put our efforts into giving back to this same society. We do a lot of things through the foundation: we visit aged-care homes, and then we donate to charities that are animal related and human related. We always talk about the three Ps — pets, people, and our planet. What we do is we make sure that, through these three Ps, we are helping society as a whole.”