3 ways of differentiating ourselves in the mattress industry.

Hi everyone, ladies and gentlemen, and fellow Singaporeans,

It has been a while since I spoke about our existence to this interesting industry.

Many of my friends and fellow supporters have always asked me this hot burning question, "there are so many competition in this small industry, how would you compare and how can you differentiate from them."

As you all know, Singapore is the easiest place to set up a company, period.

The beauty is to spur people to try out doing something of their own, just like how start-ups are in every country, they are getting a little too commercialized and marketed to a point they are competing with one another on whom is the better marketed and designed item online.

Look at the above paragraph for a while, WHERE IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THE PRODUCT?

1. WHO TALKS ABOUT THE SUBSTANCE OF THE PRODUCT?

2. WHO TALKS ABOUT THE TRUE/REAL EXPERIENCE THAT SOMEONE HAS IN ORDER TO MANUFACTURE THE PRODUCT?

3. WHO ARE THESE BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHOM CLAIM THAT THEY ARE START UPS?

4. WHERE IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THE COMPANY AND WHAT DO THEY REPRESENT?

In Singapore, because we are small, and with the ease of obtaining goods from all over the world, so long as you get a nice running website, and a group of designers, you can easily make a mattress company.

There are a lot of "claimed" to be OEM companies, whom honestly are people whom came out from a big company and set up their own company and decided to start something of their own, but only cheaper then the parent company.

Hence these people are widely available online even on Alibaba, and it doesn't benefit the end product.

So back to the question, how does TILAM KING compare ourselves with these people?

Honestly we do not wish to even be mentioned or compared with those that are new in the market.

Tilam King is a 3 generation family business, that is re-branded by the 3rd generation.

The business model of the business is to allow people understand the ways of how we manufacture, and what we use to manufacture.

The components companies are prestigious and are all global companies, so are our equipment.

We bother to explain all the necessary substance of the product, and not how we market them, or work with some prestigious marketer, and or spend really big money on marketing when our targeted audience are really those that are trying to find something good. Period.

In my personal opinion, if you bother trying to spend so much effort to sell the product, the product already has a fault, where is the confidence of the product???

There you go ladies and gentleman, we answered our burning question on,

"there are so many competition in this small industry, how would you compare and how can you differentiate from them."

1. We are a 3 generation family business, re-branded by the 3rd generation.

2. Our business model is to explain about the product, and how we manufacture them, not all the fanciful nonsense that we do not need in life.

3. The fundamental of the product is strong because all the components and the equipment to make the mattress are all global prestigious companies.

We hope that we have kept this short and sweet for everyone. Making a great product has always been a challenge, if it was easy, why wouldn't all mattress feel the same? 

We made the answers easy but honestly there are a lot of skill set involved in making a simple product, the longevity and fundamental of the foundation of making is still key. 

The Fundamental is PASSION.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing - Half a decade of Passion.

Dear Fellow Singaporeans, Ladies and Gentlemen,

"The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing"

It had been an awesome 5 years, Half a decade. Seems to me that I just started all these 2 years tops.

In this 5 great years, I started TK, with the mindset of wanting to simplify the complicated mattress industry.

We then created 5 models, (TK Luxury Series, TK Premiere Series, TK Deluxe Series, Ergo Series and Hotel Suite Series).

We allow all our customers to know how we made them, and explained to them about real manufacturing know-hows, and why does it "seemed so complex" about how other brands market themselves.

This idea of being Honest was widely accepted. The idea of sharing Honesty and real insights made people wiser.
Hence we found our PURPOSE.

We now have 5 core values, (Integrity, Pride, Passion, Honesty and Value).

These reflects the way how we wish to operate our business and treat our customers.

Integrity because of how we manufacture our products.

Pride, how we feel about our products.

Passion, help customers to find the right one, not just the expensive one.

Honesty, to educate our consumers to see through all the Jargon to understand us.

Value, keeping prices low, with cheaper alternative to traditional marketing, because we believe good products speak for itself.

We are grateful to all our suppliers that backed us up with great bed frames and accessories to meet our customer needs. We assure you all that we are your best merchant in-terms of upholding reputation and probably the best service a merchant could possibly offer.

We have been very fortunate, we are able to have "the best components" , "the best equipment" to construct and built our awesome mattresses.

"the best components"

We are very lucky, we have BekaertDeslee to supply us beautiful fabrics. And for always remembering us when it comes to stock-lots :P (Stock-lots are awesome items when it is from an awesome company, because TK pays less for a better product :P, some of you might think why TK and not other bigger better companies? That's our magic.)

We got the most prestigious spring factory in China, they make the best possible springs in China, they use all American imported Leggette&Platt equipment "SPUHL" to make my springs. 

Our foam and Latex suppliers, are nothing but Legendary. They are the Unsung Heros, they are the like the Singapore Power to Singapore for uninterrupted power supply, but no ones ever credits them.  I was introduced by my spring supplier to such an incredible young man, we are of the same age. He made all sorts of foam where no one dares to do. #40 Density is the Elite number in our industry. No one except for the major players in the global space will use such high density foam. We have latex from a very beautiful company that specializes in nothing but just 1 product, Natural latex. They are notorious for their high prices, and limited number of SKUs, we are thankful to be able to get hold of them to allow us to have access of high quality natural latex layers for our TK Luxury Series.

This was a beautiful journey to complete. Now TK have all the best components any mattress maker can possibly dream of.

"the best equipment"

After having access to the highest quality components, the only thing that is left is high end machinery. This is very tough to achieve because of the sheer difference in price point for a similar spec-ed sewing head which can only be 2,000rmb and it can go as high as 200,000rmb. 

Imported machines are very limited and have huge premiums over the local ones, which have better after-sales service. However, a great craftsman or a chef can explain to you this, a knife is a knife to a person with no knowledge or expertise or which have no attachment or respect to the industry. But a good knife to a chef is like a life to everything that he prepares. How do I know? We use Porter's Tape masters from the USA to create all our awesome mattresses.

  

Yes, they are the most expensive, and most exclusive.

Our quilting machines are from Gribetz International. They are the finest quilting machine there ever is in this World we live in.

So, we now have the best equipment.

We hope to continue impressing people with our mattresses. We hope to continue this journey of organic growth. To me this is like an experiment. Who would have known that a company with such limited budget with marketing, can reach out so far, so long.

What we hope to continue doing what we truly believe.
We will always make a mattress that we ourselves will use,
we will always sell what we ourselves will use.

This is to maintain our core value and to keep our strength way above the rest, because we are 

Tilam King!!!

To the happy 5, and onward we go towards 10!

Happy Birthday Tilam King.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

How to really compare TK products? The average consumer's favourite question.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow Singaporeans and fellow Supporters,

I think it is time to write something that really will be useful for many. I honestly didn't know how to write about it in the beginning, because I was afraid I wasn't ready, nor it may backfire me being so real about certain things.

Don't forget I am only just a small fry in a OLD traditional market whereby the majority of the consumers had been influenced over years and years of paid advertising. Money talks bulls**t walks, is still the norm in today's society. Reality often is so harsh that people choose to lean towards bulls**t. 

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The mattress industry.

i. The million dollar question: So how do you compare your mattresses to other brands?

Ans: Thank you for noticing us, this is already something magical. We only use so little resources to reach out to you, and honestly now you are in our showroom, asking us this question? Why not try it yourself? When you lay down do you feel any difference with any other mattresses? Other then them being at HIGH END malls, with stupid rents, and filled with emotionally stressed SALES which actually makes them a huge profit already. 

We are honest about our pricing, we use the best of everything to make 1 simple mattress. We do not need to explain ourselves like how others will, we will never put in the same effort in marketing, because it will make our company just like what the rest are out there. If we were to be mainstream, the end product will be simple, the more money I spend on designing fanciful terms which the consumer never will understand, wins the game. PERIOD.

Where are the emphasis on the mattress?

We just tell all our consumers the same thing and over and over again. 

We are not special.

We are not better then any of the brands out there.

What you get is something real, called a Mattress.

If you wish to buy a mattress, come to Tilam King, if you wish to buy more then that, I am afraid we do not have anything to for fill your ego ;)

ii. The billion dollar question: Why do not other brands follow you? Since you say until so simple?

Ans: They have gone too deep into creating a stupid ideas that mattresses have technology. You ask yourself  this simple question, 

Is it real technology? Can titanium be used in springs and be affordable? Can mattress be cooling and not trap heat? Can mattress sleep already can fly?

Now I ask you,

how old are you now? Obviously not a child right?

You got study or not? You should be aware about some materials, if not just google.

Can you just have some common sense? There is just no such thing as a fancy mattress.

If they follow my business model, imagine this, their CEO and multiple board directors will not have any gains. Who are the ones contributing? The typical consumers that actually think that expensive products have better stuff, the better stuff is the unnecessary layers of HR doing absolutely nothing important at all. :) it is true in every organization, touch your heart ask yourself.

If you see all my answers are not necessary talking about mattresses components. Sad right?

iii. The trillion dollar question: You always say until so good, you no need to earn money meh?

Ans: I always thank them when they say this, I say thank you so so so much, but honestly I am running a business, if it is not sustainable, I cannot even continue typing, have been doing so for 4 years. 

The Magic of TK is to transform something which is so traditional, into something linear, eliminate all the unnecessary and make full productivity for our staff to handle.

The key point is to eliminate Confusion, not to generate Confusion, which most companies are spending top dollar to generate Confusion.

TK is privileged to be able to control the entire supply-chain from production until retail.

We have a very strategic factory located in GZ, China.

We own the best equipment in the WORLD to make our mattresses.

We use the best components which are renown in the WORLD.

We have a good size warehouse in SG that can hold 5 40ft containers.

We own the cosiest showroom located 8 New Industrial Road S536200.

We own the cleanest Euro5 Diesel fleet to do our delivery.

We have the most passionate people to change the mattress industry.

We have the very best, all because of YOU.

YOU made it happen!

We are blessed with the internet to be able to share with everyone good quality mattresses can be affordable.

We are very appreciative of what our supporters have done for us, the constant recommendations and the love just shown to us for the past years...

Thank you so much and thank you for giving us a chance make good quality mattress at a good honest price point and to be able to compete in our very small niche.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

Tilam King - Singapore's very own recognized mattress manufacturer!

Dear ladies and gentlemen, fellow supporters and fellow Singaporeans,

Hallmark after hallmark - 320,000 views on our blog, 

achievement after achievements - 8,700 Likes on Facebook,

Number 1 for "mattress singapore" - on location and probably the best post *The Logic of Mattress*

Tilam King haven't change any of our style of sales, we only improved it.

Tilam King haven't drawn into pro-business, meaning dump money for marketing for more sales.

Tilam King is still the least sales driven company I probably think in the world...

If you do not know what you are buying, or didn't get what you came for, we will just say thanks for your time, and see you soon someday...

The concept of what Tilam King believes is, we as a manufacturer simplifies our mattresses, to the point, our consumers must know what we are talking.

We back it up by quality components suppliers...

and now in 2015, we backed it up more by the best possible equipment used to make our mattresses.

and in 2016, we hope to start collecting DATA (not going to say yet) to substantiate that Tilam King mattresses allow all our clients to have a great night sleep, like wise the other branded boys.

We believe that the only formula 

to stay true to what we developed for our consumers, 

is for the company to be self sustainable and 

for the products to be awesome.

These has got to be the mantra for our company and the spirit of what we live on.

It has really been a long while since we recite our Vision and Mission...

Our Vision:

To allow everyone really good quality mattresses at the best value!

Our Mission:

To let our consumers clearly understand what mattresses is all about and how it is made, so they can have a better knowledge for their mattress selection.

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We also wish to thank for really everyone that supported us, and be all so gracious and share our story with so many of their friends, their family, and to people whom are looking for mattresses.

Tilam King is overwhelmed with the generosity that we receive from especially friends, and clients that turn into kakis.

Because of this, we will continue to strive harder, and serve selflessly to the public!

Educate as many people we can, share good mattresses with anyone that needs it.

We have been around for 4 good years...

Tilam King will be forever... 

No one can stop us, because of social media...

No one can deny us from doing, because it is what we really love doing...

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

Tilam King, the only company that refuses to use traditional media and god bless the Internet.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow supporters and fellow Singaporeans,

we had really come a long way...

We are going to have 300,000 views really soon...

Those that supported us, THANK YOU!

Those that helped shared the great products, YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!

Ultimately, we try our best to use only social media to reach out as many as we can possible, to those that benefited, will enjoy the BEST possible product and the BEST possible value! 

These are basically my opinions about the industry and how to be a smarter mattress shopper for every fellow Singaporean ;)

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Our concept ...

<5 mattress fit all> model 

is easy to understand and transparent.

http://tilamking.blogspot.sg/2015/04/the-tilam-king-concept-and-why-no.html

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We believe in respecting our consumers by being straight forward, 

hence the honest price point...

http://tilamking.blogspot.sg/2014/10/promotion-vs-honest-price-point-which.html

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Our ultimate reliability test, done in our own style and fashion.

http://tilamking.blogspot.sg/2014/08/our-super-rocket-science-reliability.html

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Probably our most popular post of all, that is everywhere in Google searches and probably the most read blog-post about mattresses in Singapore!

The Logic of mattresses, how to buy?

http://tilamking.blogspot.sg/2013/04/the-logic-of-mattress-how-to-buy.html

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Our take on the Hotel Experience.

How to have 5 star Hotel Experience right in your bedroom?

http://tilamking.blogspot.sg/2014/06/myth-busters-5-star-hotel-mattresses.html

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A lot of effort was spent into the content and to put the perspectives from a consumer.

They are easy to understand and not with jargons which you cannot understand, and of cause with some of Singapore's humour.

We take pride and full credit what these content can bring us, for the good and bad.

We enjoy every smiles created educating consumers to get the most out of their mattress.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

* Just so you know, it is really not easy starting a company that actually use facts. We often get slammed by haters or competitors, the mattress industry is indeed filled with uneducated people and sales orientated sales people, which will say what it takes to close the deal, even destroying other people's image. We however for the educated people, now is the internet era, with transparency brands are just names. Manufacturers ultimately are manufacturers, whether or not we create good products, our components suppliers can substantiate for it's value. 

Manufacturers that eventually eliminate middle people, will cause some people to be unhappy, but to the clients, that is value for you there ;)

Just saying, 2cents.

Showroom address: 8 New Industrial Road #01-01 Singapore 536200
Telephone number: 6288 8666
Website: www.tilamking.sg

The TILAM KING CONCEPT, and why no competition cannot come close?

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

We shall tell you the truth why people cannot follow or change to be like us? Yea I get it, they are bigger then us, to mimic a smaller company like us and crush us will be simple.

They have gone in too deep to even make that change possible. What if a top brand change to be like us? IE to say their previous effort in creating different models will be erased, imagine globally how big of an impact it will create? LOL. They cannot look back and will only continue doing the same thing that they do best, to confuse you more :P 

You see brands have to make more varieties for the consumers to basically let you feel indulged and spoilt for choices, ultimately losing focus on the price point and just going ahead with which ever feels good because it is just so tiring to look for a good mattress anyways.

If you actually take a look at REAL LUXURY brands for mattress, they only have 3 models or lesser, and offer full customization in their firmness. Sounds firmilar already right? but all these comes at a hefty price tag of way above the $10,000s and do not know why mattresses that are expensive are all Swedish. LOL since when did Sweden specialize in mattress? 

 Nvm, long story short.

The concept of a mattress that Tilam King STRONGLY believe is:

1. FIRMNESS comes from the springs, the springs are ultimately the core of the mattress, not the comfort layer. If there is a soft mattress, you take out the soft springs and put a firmer springs inside, it will become firmer.

2. Comfort layers, there are ONLY 3 major comfort layers, Latex , Memory foam , and Foam. Their primary purpose is to give comfort by easing off pressure before allowing the springs to give resistance. They are normally placed on top of the springs. This is what normally consumers are paying for in a mattress, the way how the mattress reacts to you when you lay down on the mattress. Each comfort layers are unique in it's own way.

3. Consumers should understand 1 & 2 and realized that all the places that do not understand about mattresses will sell you mattress based on firmness, WHICH in our perspective can be adjusted by the different spring settings. Why can't they follow us if it is so logical? Because they choose not to, and all their life they already have been doing more models just to create variety for absolutely no reason at all. Consumers cannot justify the difference between a $4,000 mattress vs $8,000 mattress vs $12,000 mattress vs $40,000 mattress. The internal components are all similar yet NAMED in a very different manner. 

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To summarize, 

Mattresses have 2 major parts, 

top layer which are comfort layers,

bottom layer are the springs.

Whether the consumer is light weight, or heavy weight, we have created a particular system to cater. 

Doesn't mean that you are heavy you cannot buy that particular mattress because is too soft, we can firm it up for you.

So therefore, with just 5 models, Tilam King can represent the entire industry.

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TK Luxury Mattress

from left to right, TK Deluxe Series, TK Luxury Series, TK Premiere Series.

Ergo Series

Hotel Comfort

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The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

Why Singapore is awesome? Tilam King is proud of Singapore, period.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

"There was a time when people said that Singapore wouldn't make it... 

BUT WE FREAKING DID~!"

this comes from one of my favorite national song(except for the freaking word).

Singapore used to be a fishing village, swampy land, and just really not special.

Mr LKY gave his all to make what we have today.

We will not go through what he did before because it is all over the news and history channel.

Let us talk about Singapore from our perspective.

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Singapore have one of the highest literacy rates in the world, which means we are all smart.

Singapore have a first world foundation and is one of the easiest places to live in.

Singaporeans are nice and honest as compared to most countries.

Singapore is CLEAN, and we mean it.

Singapore has become not only a country, but a standard for all to follow.

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Simply put it short, we love Singapore, and we are proud of it.

Tilam King is working on the same principles of what Singapore stands for.

Tilam King know Singaporeans are smart, so we do not spend effort in dressing up all the marketing gimmick because we know 

Singaporeans can tell whether the product is good or not.

Tilam King tries to be the best in the industry PRODUCT wise, and still is affordable with all the DRAMATIC savings in A&P and marketing.

Tilam King wish to be nice and honest in the entire Mattress Industry.

Tilam King wish to be as straight forward as possible. So you can understand the substance behind our product rather then letting you listen to all the marketing jargons used and confuse you for absolutely no reason at all.

Tilam King wish to be the benchmark of a good mattress. We wish to be the standard of how an average consumer wants from a quality mattress.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

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23/03/2015

Deepest condolence to the Lee Family.

Thank you Mr LKY for what you did for Singapore. 

Thank you for being an awesome leader!

You are our Legend.

Our Company Brief, Right on track... Thank you supporters.

Dear Supporters and fellow Singaporeans,

Wow, we are already more then half year through 2014...

The intention of this year was to improve ourselves better,

1. Growing our team.

2. Get a nice webpage.

3. Minor revamp in our showroom.

Make our company look better overall.

Seriously, it is not easy.

We are not the typical company that just splurge money and engage the best designer to make things happen.

We want our package to improve but yet not affect our bottom line which is to provide affordable mattresses to everyone.

There are so many merchants out there spending close to $20-50 even $100 thousands a month on top locations, best advertising spots, and hire the best sales person to seal the deal.

These are what we never believe in.

I remembered sitting around a table of senior furniture business owners, we were talking about running our kind of business. 

I mentioned that, "product was the most important, not the sales person, not the plan, not the marketing efforts, due to the fact that we are living in a more and more transparent world."

but 3 groups slammed and said, "you know Tony, it is all about the sales person. You got the best product, but the sales person cannot sell for you also no point. You know today we live so well, is because of our sales people. Without them we will not have today." 

I said again, "if you rely on the sales person, he will go off at his peak, just like how a banker jumps around in different banks. They are ultimately working for you. As the CEO of the company, you need to make sure that the product sells by itself, therefore hiring anyone will feel easier and loyalty will be stronger."

1 said, "different la you... we take care of our staff so our staff follow us a long time. You business model also different because you use social media presence. Our business model different, if customer come, they cannot run away one, if not how to cover our overheads and expenses?"

I smiled, and continued drinking my beer.

(No offence to whom you are if you are reading, I just thought this is a very good and strong ideology to share with my fellow supporters on how the industry thinks.)

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Look at what we have so far... that will be implementing real soon.

This is what we are talking about~ 

Probably the BEST LOOKING MATTRESS SITE in 2014. Period.

Not because we are better, 

not because we spend more, 

just because we love and respect our industry more then others.

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These products represent our company.

80/80 tc Linen Set

Those that understand Linens, we call upon you to judge us.

We have the best Linens the entire Hotel Industry adds together. (Cotton category, don't compare vs silk or others, just compare Cotton to Cotton)

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TK Luxury Series

Our flagship that represents 

what Natural Latex hybrid with Individual Pocketed Springs means.

Thousands have witness and are using happily.

Feel our passion when it comes to making the best mattress possible.

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TK Premiere Series

Our aim to make the Sexiest mattress ALIVE. We did it.

Memory foam hybrid with Individual Pocketed Springs feels simply amazing and astonishingly sexy.

We have plenty of couples using it and feeling sexy ;)

HEHE.

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TK Deluxe Series

Our aim to let consumers know that Foam mattress can feel sooooo good, despite what people say.

Our carefully selected Foam hybrid with Individual Pocketed Springs hits the right spot.

Feel it, and think otherwise about Foam. ;)

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Ergo Series by TILAM KING

We listen to our fellow Chiropractors, what they have to say about preventing sore spines.

This is our ANSWER.

Who says a Back Friendly Mattress needs to be in the high thousands.

We made it less then $1k, yes we did.

The FACE of the less then SGD$1k Mattress to represent.

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Hotel Comfort by TILAM KING

Guess who is in this Hotel room ;)

We finally made it, painful, troublesome, but worth it.

Our Minimalist mattress. 

Meant to be paired up or used alone with or without accessories.

Great value for all our consumers.

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There it is, our breakdown on our product ranges, and what to expect in the coming months.

We thank for the great support and love that have been constantly showered upon us.

Those that gave us great comments.

Those that shared our Facebook posts.

Those that LIKEd us.

Those that DRAG their friends over to our shop, and even help us sell it to their friends. (u know who you are) :P

Those that encourage us.

Those that just simply are so awesomely sporting and generous.

Also...

Those other peeps that constantly say our bad things, we love you as well. Just because when you spend the effort to say our bad things, you make people remember our existence.

Those that flame us online, I have to thank you most, because you made my message even clearer. 

We love haters and appreciate them. Without you Tilam King will not exist.

We will continue to make good mattresses, 

we will continue to speak only the truth about mattresses, 

we will continue to only work with low operating cost so that we can deliver the best possible mattress to you and your family.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing.

- Tilam King

The truth about Tilam King, we are not perfect. Our self reflection.

Dear fellow Supporters and friends,

We wish to thank every single one whom supported us! You do not need to purchase to support us, by understanding us, LIKEing us on Facebook, or updating yourself with our progress through our blog, all these meant the world to us.

We are blessed with friends and supporters that give us maximum support.

We were shocked to realized that people actually accept us for whom we are. 

We appreciate it 100% sincerely.

We were overwhelmed by the great support our fellow friends and supporters gave us.

We learn, we had new lessons, we now know where are our weaknesses, and in 2014 these are some of the things that I feel I should state out to be fair for everyone.

We did screw up in several ways.

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LOGISTICS TERROR

You see, some of our advantage is actually a dual edge sword.

We hire our own logistics, to keep our transport lower.

But our traditional management approach was not good enough to accept changes.

When clients make changes with the dates, we often mis-communicate. 

That is why we often reemphasize 5days advance. So we have ample time to make changes.

We also end up we over worked them, and end up very difficult to arrange for deliveries.

We often got mis-communicated and somehow rather miss out or didn't deliver on time.

Year end, our lorries are constantly at 100% (we share the lorry with my dad's co)

We reckon that the stated are the minorities, but we still take it seriously.

Some of our clients have no mattress to sleep for a few days :( our bad.

Some families waited for long hours for their mattresses.

But these are all part and parcel of year end crazy traffic flow.

Possible Solutions

Do not change the delivery date perhaps :P Or put it earlier and then change it to a later date, so the goods is in my storage and as and when you are ready, we can deliver.

Maybe put some "chilli and garlic in the gardens so will not rain, as told by PM Lee"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka6bxFw4pSY

Rain is scary for traffic, this will definitely delay deliveries. :(

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FREE BEDFRAME PROMOTION

Our main concerns are actually those that faced problems with the bedframes.

Well, I being a typical Singaporean...

Kiasu and all...

People advertising free bedframes, and etc...

I push my suppliers hard to also give me a good package so I can offer limited sets of free bedframes too.

The reality is, people are quoting 3k , 3.5k , 5k 

then free bedframe...

We had free bedframe from $799 onwards... So sick, but true...

We tried to bring the same privilege to our supporters and felt some repercussions.

The frames that some of my clients received for free, have noises after months of usage.

Again, we still have to react accordingly to solve problems with our clients as the item given "was from" Tilam King.

Sad but true...

We have decided in the years to come, no more free bedframe.

These things haunt us :/

Lessons Learnt

Our Frames are already cheaper then ANYwhere with high level of customization.

kiang tio ho, mai gei kiang. Stop pressurizing ourselves to be even more competitive.

Our product speaks for itself, our clients can see it and understand it themselves.

Pressured decisions sometimes is a poor decision. And true enough, heading towards to bandwagon of giving free bedframe was a really compromised item. This will do damage to only ourselves.

Some clients even if they know they are getting a good deal, just constantly want more.
Have to know where the line is.

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We have to learn how to turn down special request.

Being a small company, we are often taken advantage of. Trust me, we have been in this industry for so long, we know how other company works and how they handle things.

We are 100% sure that no one can replicate us in terms of going the extra mile.

There was this scenario that we felt we were silly to agree on.

Scenario:

The delivery date is confirmed.

No calls to make changes or what so ever.

Delivery was made.

House flooring wasn't ready, and was asked to put it on the first floor first, as the rooms flooring wasn't ready.

Remember all these are happening during our peak periods, where time is really crucial to us. Our delivery guys constantly worked overtime till 10pm.

The client plead us to come next week again to do installation and  move up to the 2nd floor into the rooms.

We agreed to do so, but as a company, we will not charge our client, but we request for the client to tip $50 to our hardworking delivery team of 3 people.

Probably our delivery team attitude maybe not so good as they install and move the items into the rooms. (Probably because my guys been to this client house for 3 times already)

The situation turned sour and we got blamed that our guys aren't pleasant and client refuse to tip, hence these turned even more sour.

My guys ultimately got tipped and left the client's place.

Lessons learnt

1. We are not a mover service. The above situation by right, is out of reach to us. We can say no to the request. We should let our supplier handle and not our own delivery guys. My guys were just too nice to help out the client.

2. We only provide free delivery for our products to one location. Another will only be a good will. We also have the rights to refuse to deliver multiple locations.

3. When it is peak period, cannot accept special request, must learn to turn down. Because of our work load, it is hard to slot in a time frame to do such small requests, there are many many other deliveries waiting to be delivered.

4. We have to understand delivery team people are typically uneducated and a little rough, because of so, they are capable and have great strength to carry items of such weight like a mattress and frames. If they are educated and not rough, I, Tony Tan, will bet my life and my company, no one will sign up for the job. 

PERIOD. 

*****

We hope you guys can understand us further with this honest post. 

The reason why I do this is because I believe our kind and awesome supporters have over-hyped us tremendously.

We are starting to feel the pressure and the level of expectation is set too high for us.

We wish to reemphasize, our most expensive mattress we are able to charge is $1.8k for a king size TK Luxury Series.

PLEASE DO NOT COMPARE THE LEVEL OF SERVICE STANDARDS TO A $5,000 MATTRESS COMPANY.

FOCUS MORE ON THE COMPARISON OF QUALITY OF THE $5,000 MATTRESS :P

hehehehe...

ALSO Please note that we do not own or make any bedframes, they are supplied by suppliers.

We do some frames but they are more expensive as compared to the ones supplied by suppliers.

Hence we do not sell them often.

But please do note of our level of expectations of quality.

And...

Please do understand our lack of service standards... reason is because we everything also rely on limited man power.

We promise to increase our manpower so long as we find the right person to fill in the job.

We cannot and will not anyhow fill in anyone just because we need help.

We will fill in one that is also passionate about mattresses.

Because we care and respect the most in the Mattress Industry.

We believe we are the only company to disclose our faults publicly and yes, we are not perfect.

Being genuine requires strength!

Show some graciousness and appreciation by supporting us!

In the mean time, have a great 2014 ahead and have a wonderful coming Lunar New Year!

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

The psychology behind the mattress industry. Tilam King's Business model

"First off, these are just my understanding since birth.

I am the writer of this, and from the bottom of my heart, this is how I feel this industry works.

It is disgusting."

The objective of brands and marketing is crucial.

People remember them somewhere in their mind, but they do not need it yet.

Hence, recollection will come, when the day a consumer needs a mattress.

But the thing is, there are so many brands out there.

So many different shops out there.

and worst, there is also Expo.

One huge chunk of them which are not known, just Google and inspect their websites, you probably know what I mean. They are just sales people whom is good at sales, and specifically, mattresses.

So these people get together to rent a shop, put many brands together, and start selling mattresses. 

Because they do not own the shop(they rent), they do not own lorries(they outsource), they do not own the mattresses(they consigned), they just operate it like a convenience stall.

People are buying thousands of dollars of mattresses, putting deposits, and hoping that they got a good deal and expecting deliveries to be done.

The business model seems valid, hence many people open mattress stalls everywhere.

But these people know, it is not easy to do because from March to August are basically months that are very dry.

This is the beauty of the furniture industry. If you can survive the dry periods, basically the good will come slowly and surely.

Mattress shops open and close ALL THE TIME.

The life expectancy of a shop is 2-3 years before the company closes.

That is why shopping centers are slowly dominating this industry is because, of the complications that are happening every single day.

Consumers lose faith in smaller retailers.

But remember the principle I have, 

"Don't tell me you advertise full page ads and tell me you are cheaper then smaller retailers, that is basically Bull****."

Again, smaller retailers are easy to set up, the level of entrant is very low.

But I appreciate prestigious brands nowadays because they actually stop consigning to nonsense shops anymore.

Big it up to Simmons & Sealy & Tempur, they have stopped supplying to substandard retailers. Serta has all along done a different approach which is the self sustaining model, which is opening their own boutiques.

All that they had did, is really for the consumers. I really love them.

Remember these are global brands. Period.

Where as ASEAN brands, they just need to capture market share and are playing catch up, often very desperate. So long as you have a space for them, they consign. Ridiculous.

But amusing, a buddy of mine whom works for a brand, have a whopping bad credit of $100k++ just on his account. Meaning the shops either close shop, and these money cannot be retrieved back. This is just one sales man... There are a few sales man in the company.

Pathetic. Seriously.

I know I have no right to say this, because this is business. 

This leads to the word ethic.

Being responsible is very important. In Singapore, the government encourages entrepreneurship, Singapore is small, hence it is actually very easy to do business.

Just that rents are crazy. Super Crazy.

*****

The ideology behind Tilam King's business model is rock solid. 

We buy the shop front property, we buy our lorries, we buy our own warehouse, and we own our own factory.

For buying of assets, is to convert fluctuating cost into fixed cost.

Hence the land lord cannot increase our rent and chase us out, or to move out to a new place and start all over.

We own our factory is to make sure our supplies QC is as high as possible and are constant, also to lower product cost from obtaining from suppliers.

The key is to make operating cost as low as possible.

No one can out do us, just because the CORE business is actually real estate.

My father once said, "Mattresses to us, is like offering people blessing. They create life there, and they spent half of the life on it. We must be able to offer them the best, if not we will not have good karma."

These are principles that Tilam King swear on.

We are a recession proof company, just because everyone needs to sleep, and we can offer better for less.

We mean what we say, and we love mattresses more then others.

No one have or will share with you insights about the mattress industry, because I feel that there need to be a change in this industry.

For too long, people have been worshiping brands, we are not a 3rd world country.

Save your money on things others can see :P

Mattress is all about the comfort point, substance, and price point.

Feel my passion, see my products.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

-Tilam King