Doctor & CEO: How Kay’s Perfumery Balances Business Growth & Management with Bumpa

Kay’s Perfumery is an online perfume store that sells fragrance products ranging from perfume oils to scented candles and diffusers. The founder, Dr Kedei Ibiang tells us how she juggles being a doctor and running a business, and how wanting to fix a personal problem led her to build a very successful brand. Visit their website here.

A doctor, who also owns a whole business. What's that like?

So I'm in public health and I don't necessarily work in a hospital. I work with agencies that work on public health projects in interior communities in the North, and one in the Southeast. And also one in Abuja, which is where I live and run my business.

Why did you decide to do this, and how did you start your business?

It all majorly started because I've always had allergies, and using perfumes triggered them. Growing up, my mum and I couldn't use perfumes because of these allergies, and in fact, it was so bad that people couldn't even use perfumes around us.

But of course, smelling good is important; everyone wants to smell good. So we used alternatives like roll-ons, instead of sprays, but we didn't quite hack it until I eventually stumbled on perfume oils. I didn't have to spray them, and I could still smell good. I started using them for myself, and finally, the business was born in 2018. From me wanting to sort out my problems.

Related: Bumpa Success Stories: How I Started my Business with Just 10,000 Naira because I Wanted to Solve a Problem

Truly amazing. So, how did you start growing the business?

I started buying and wearing them and after a couple of weeks of my colleagues (this was during my house job at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital) constantly mentioning how nice I smelled and asking me where I got my scents from, I decided to order some more and resell it to them. I basically saw an opportunity there, and that's how Kay's Perfumery was born.

And did these people actually buy from you?

Oh, they did. And then more people kept placing orders. For the period of the house job, it was just perfume oils, but there were a lot of other needs. People wanted their homes to smell nice, but couldn't use normal air fresheners. Down the line, we did discover that it was about the content in these things, and not the fact that they had to be sprayed, that triggered those allergies. This helped us eventually to start creating sprays with products that aren't allergenic and won't trigger allergies of any kind.

So you did expand into other products?

Yes in 2019/2020.

What are the other things you produce?

We have scented candles, diffusers, room sprays or air fresheners as we like to call them. And then we have perfume oils that we started out with.

Kay's Perfumery range of products

Do you make them yourself or do you still source them yourself?

Oh yeah, cool story. I actually had to go pay someone and learn!

Oh wow! Now that's super impressive. What made you decide to?

We had a lot of limitations with sourcing; we were constrained by what was available whenever we wanted to restock, and sometimes I wouldn't get what my customers wanted. I also wanted more control over the fragrances, bottles, range of products, etc. So I initially paid someone to produce for us but was in control of fragrances, bottles and pretty much everything else.

And then?

It worked out initially, but we started to notice discrepancies. The diffusers finished quickly, which was odd, and we noticed there was alcohol in them, which is one of the biggest irritants in fragrance products. Also, the person wasn't consistent in production. It started to affect our service and that was when I decided to learn it myself.

Rockstar behaviour! So, how did you start learning?

The learning process was long because the initial course I took was kind of basic. I had to source for the rest of the info that I needed and then found a course instructor in the US. I started the class, and then there was the period of practice and testing and making sure everything was great. The entire process took about 5 months; I actually had to take time off work to learn.

Production of Kay's Perfumery range of reed diffusers

How did you phase out the products in your old collection and start introducing the new stuff to your customers? Did they complain?

We still had a batch from our producers, but we started introducing the ones we'd made ourselves and just made them new additions to our line. When the old batch finally finished, we only had our own line of candles, diffusers and oils. For customers who insisted on the particular fragrances they'd gotten from before, we introduced fragrances from our own line that were close to what they wanted, and most of them absolutely loved it and didn't mind switching.

Your story is super amazing.

Thank you!

What's a month where you've had the highest number of sales, and what were the strategies you used to get there?

I can't think of a particular month, but I'll say a really good month for us is usually when we hit over 2,000,000 in sales, and we've had some months like that. It gets higher than that during peak periods sometimes. One of our key strategies has actually been Instagram ads, sometimes directly to our Bumpa website and other times to our IG page.

Which would you say performs better?

Our social media generally performs better; Instagram, WhatsApp, and then the website. The website orders are usually much easier to process though because it's super seamless to order on it, and it helps us take orders at odd hours as well. We also have a physical store.

What's one major achievement that you've hit for your business?

Actually, it was launching our physical store. It was a huge milestone for us and it took a lot of work off my shoulders.

Kay's Perfumery's physical store in Abuja, Nigeria

Amazing. And congratulations! When did you launch it?

It was in October 2022.

Why did you make the decision to have a store and how did you go about it?

We had a lot of people who wanted a walk-in store to pick up their orders, and we needed a proper space to produce, and then we also wanted to cater for people who wanted to smell the fragrances before making a purchase.

Any other milestones you want to share?

Yes. We also started delivering, first nationwide, and then internationally. It's such a great win for us. We ship to the Netherlands and Canada, and are available to ship to other places where we get customers as well!

How did you expand to start shipping internationally?

It was mostly through ads. We knew we were ready to start shipping internationally, so we pushed ads to a particular audience of people living in those places. We figured that there were people looking to produce diffusers, perfume oils and candles and thought it would be less expensive producing them in Nigeria and getting them shipped to where they were, and we capitalised on that. And it's really worked for us.

What's something you believe has really worked for your brand and propelled your business to where it is?

It's definitely the quality of our products. We don't take the quality of what we produce and sell for granted, and we're always ensuring that's it the best you can get. It's really worked for the brand and I can confidently say it's something that will never change for us.

Customers reviewing Kay's Perfumery's products

How has Bumpa helped you with your business?

Bumpa has been with us for the longest time, and the app is literally our day-to-day helper. The biggest help has been with our inventory; one person can update the stock of products on the app and everyone knows what's available when they're speaking to a customer, whether they're selling from the physical store or online. The website also makes it easy to have conversations with customers; we don't have to share pictures of products anymore. We just pick the link to the product and share it. The analytics has also made life easier for us to understand business performance; we record all our orders on Bumpa, and it's just easier to take a look at the end of the month and see where we need to up our game, and basically the highs and lows of the month. It's all on one easy-to-use dashboard.

What would you say to new business owners or someone who's considering starting a business?

The first and most important thing is to be ready to run a business, because it can be quite frustrating at the beginning, and you'll face multiple challenges at different times, even when you've become an established brand. You need a lot of resilience, and also to put your heart into it. Also, always make sure that you don't joke about the quality of what you sell. This alone will always have your customers coming back to you.

This is a strategy that has worked for you in retaining your customers.

Oh yes! One thing we firmly believe in is that as long as you've shopped with us once, you'll always come back. That's how much confidence we have in the quality of our products, and I believe that's somewhere every business needs to get to.

Love this! Thank you so much for sharing your story.

You’re absolutely welcome.

Read our Bumpa Success Stories, a series that features some of the most innovative and successful businesses on Bumpa. Through this series, we're showcasing how our merchants reach new audiences, engage with customers and increase sales. These stories provide real-world examples of how our platform can be a game-changer for businesses of every size and industry, inspiring businesses to try Bumpa for themselves and achieve boosted engagement, increased revenue, and limitless possibilities.

Subscribe to our Blog

If you love tips & content like this that will help with your small business marketing and growth, then you’ll be excited to know we have more! We could always send you notifications when they are published if you share your email with us. We promise to not be a bother, and you can always unsubscribe anytime!

Subscribe Now

Want to Learn More about Bumpa & How to Grow your Business with it?

You can sign up to Bumpa in 5 seconds as a small business owner and let us begin the journey of growing your business with you!

Sign Up Now