Fully utilizing renewable energy, enhanced quality management, installment payment plans, PayMe, new price tags at the Taikoo Shing Experience Center, new cotton storage bags inside the packaging, new Mon... It's been another week, and welcome to our latest Re Pillow Co. weekly journal!
This week continued to be busy, and on Saturday, there was a typhoon that disrupted almost all of our plans (because we were originally planning to go to the factory on Saturday to handle some documents). But enough of that, let's get right to our Re Pillow Co. weekly journal and talk about this week's updates:
#1 Full use of renewable energy
We recently applied to CLP Power to participate in their Renewable Energy Certificate Scheme, and the application was approved on June 29th (just last Wednesday). Currently, all of our factories and offices in Hong Kong (actually only one in Kwai Chung) are fully utilizing renewable energy. This is another environmental initiative following the tree-planting program, and there will be other environmental initiatives in the future. For example, the environmentally friendly packaging program currently in place should be implemented within the next few months.
Learn more about our 100% renewable energy plan: https://repillow.co/blogs/news/ Our offices and factories are fully powered by renewable energy.
#2 Further Quality Management
Because our pillow manufacturing involves many manual processes, there have been instances where the pillows, like handcrafted items, have different qualities. Additionally, the quality of raw materials fluctuates, affecting the pillow's texture. This is an issue we've noticed, and it's a major headache for me personally. Minor issues might involve the pillow being 0.5-1cm longer, while the most serious problems could impact the texture. Although the percentage involved is small to me, probably less than a few percent, it's a huge crisis for me. These affected customers may never know what Re Pillow is actually like; they might think our product is mediocre or even terrible. They might even lose all faith in us. It hurts me when I think about this because I'm so emotionally connected to the brand and our customers. I know it sounds cliché, but it's genuinely true, because those who bought this pillow trust me, and I don't want to disappoint them. Over the past year, we've increasingly "quantified" our processes, transforming many experience-based practices into measurable numbers. This makes all processes more systematic and standardized. In the last two weeks, we've further broken down and quantified some processes to prevent human error and inconsistent quality. We've also started a monthly random inspection, sampling one item from each product each month to compare against the previous month and so on. Regarding raw materials, we've begun discussions with SGS , the world's most authoritative testing company, to inspect their quality and ensure materials consistently meet the highest standards. We also have them conduct regular spot checks on our own products in the market, ensuring both internal and external inspections for more stable quality. I believe this is essential for further improving RPC and taking it to the next level. About SGS: https://www.sgs.com/en
Sometimes I tell myself this: I will do whatever it takes to make Re Pillow Co. a well-known and trusted brand that we can all be proud of. Might fail, but I will do my best. Whatever it takes. Whatever challenges ahead, bring it on, try me.
#3 Installment Payment Plan
We've partnered with Atome to offer an installment payment plan. We received inquiries from a few customers about using Atome installments, so we've been discussing this with them for the past few weeks. Customers can pay in three interest-free installments through the Atome platform, each installment being one month apart. Atome can be used online or at our stores, both with interest-free installments. The contract has been signed, and the website added Atome installment payments on Saturday evening (February 7th). Now, only in-store payments are available. We've scheduled Atome staff to install it at our stores, but haven't received a confirmation date yet. However, we believe we can implement Atome installment payments at our stores within the next few weeks.
#4 PayMe Payment
We've always wanted to accept PayMe payments, but we haven't been able to because our company doesn't have an HSBC account. This week, we're opening a company account with HSBC, hoping to add PayMe to our online and in-store payment options as soon as possible.
#5 Taikoo Shing New Price List
It's funny to think about it now. When we first opened our Taikoo Shing Experience Store, we didn't have price tags. It was our first time opening a shop, and we hadn't realized we'd forgotten about them. We simply printed price tags on small sheets, but because they weren't laminated or protected, they tore quickly. So we switched to handwritten tags. Recently, one of our colleagues was very thoughtful and proactively made some nicer, printed price tags with adhesive backing, and placed them at our Taikoo Shing store. I think the whole thing immediately looked much more professional. You can see the pictures below:
#6 Brand new cotton storage bag included in packaging
We will be switching to new "storage bags" around next month. These bags are included with every pillowcase and are for customers to use to store excess cotton after adjusting the pillow height. Previously, we used a frosted, sturdy plastic bag, but customers felt it wasn't big enough, so we ordered a larger batch of the same type. Later, some customers also reported that the plastic bag wasn't durable enough; the zippers would tear after prolonged use, and the edges might also break. Therefore, we have decided to switch to a more durable bag for cotton storage. However, since we still have some sturdy plastic bags left, we believe the transition will be fully completed by mid-to-late August.
#7 New Mon!
We've got a new Mon! Let's take a look:
I'm so happy because the Monday update is bigger! When processing orders, I can show the whole list at once, which is so much more convenient. This is probably the biggest update of the week. (PS: If you want to see our previous Monday updates, you can read last week's #004 journal entry .)
Summarize
Okay, that's all for this week. See you next week. Thank you for reading my weekly journal. I don't know how your week went, but we've been there for you. Although we may not be able to talk face-to-face, and we may have never met before, we're just like you, working hard together. Keep it up!
#004 (26/6/2022)
#006 (10/07/2022)