Saoi-gate: A lesson in compassion and customer care
From the resurgence of cowboy boots following the release of Cowboy Carter to Rishi Sunak’s apology for “ruining” the Sambas, shoes have been in the eye of the fashion storm quite a lot recently. In Malaysia, a different kind of shoe takes centre stage: Saoi’s Lola kitten heel.
Late last month, local Malaysian brand, Saoi, took part in the Riuh Raya KL market, where loyal customers were given the opportunity to purchase their highly coveted kitten heel just in time for Eid.
To illustrate the virality of these heels, people began queueing for them as early as 11:30am. The market wouldn’t be opened until 3pm.
But many were left Lola-less after failing to gain access to the brand’s booth. Apparently, there was an issue with crowd management and the line was moving too slow. Those who persisted had to be turned away eventually following the end of the market day.
That wasn’t the end of it, though. Long story short, the people took to Twitter (uh-oh) to express their frustrations over the event and shoe, and the creative director said some things that were best said differently.
Here, I share my thoughts from the perspective of a consumer on what the brand could’ve done better and what we consumers should strive to do moving forward.
Part one: customer care
While it was truly unfortunate that Saoi had to endure the wrath of Twitter, there is truth in what was expressed by some of the consumers over this matter.
For one, I do agree that Wan Nur Syaira, creative director of Saoi, could’ve done better with her Twitter statement. Mainly because she failed to address the central issues raised by her customers - poor management at Riuh and shoe quality - and the tone in which the statement was delivered was also less than ideal. It read as a little bit vindictive, juvenile, and gauche.
Her statement focused largely on the accusation that her shoes came from an existing wholesale catalogue in China. While it is only natural for her to want to defend her brand when being accused of “stamping [their] logo” on wholesale shoes, she could’ve done better by attaching some photo proofs of her design work - that would’ve made her explanation stronger and more concrete.
A simple apology, thorough explanation, and evidence would’ve sufficed. Also, hiring a proper PR team would’ve helped too.
Second, I believe it is important to always have one’s customers in mind. Most of their buyers are white-collar workers who had to work for those shoes. So, I understand that when they pay an upwards of 189 ringgit for a pair of shoes, they’d expect the quality - as well as the customer service - to be really good.
According to this user on X, her shoe began to peel after only a few hours of wear. A similar comment from a different user featured an image of her Saoi flats peeling after wearing them for less than a month. In a post on Syaira’s instagram dated 22nd March 2024, a commenter expressed her frustration when she “reach[ed] out multiple times” for an exchange to no avail.
Effective and professional communication is crucial, especially for local and growing labels whose customers tend to have a deeper connection with the brand and its people. This was evidently missing from Saoi’s team as of late.
Part two: compassion
Despite their shortcomings, I don’t think it is entirely fair to send Saoi into exile.
Before this fiasco, I had seen countless reviews and comments praising the quality of their shoes – even I was convinced to purchase a pair at one point (I ended up not getting them because it was wayyyy out of my budget at that time). So, this is not a recurring issue with the brand.
Neither is it with their customer service (CS). While I may not have any experience with the CS team, I hadn’t heard any complaints about it before either.
This is just a classic case of humans making mistakes, which is inevitable. Of course, it’s frustrating as a paying customer to experience that - it’s only natural and totally fair to feel that way - but let’s not let this hiccup with Saoi turn us away from supporting local brands.
Running a business is already tough as it is, running a local and emerging one in an era where independent brands have to actively compete with commerce giants must be tougher.
So, practicing a little compassion might be good. Keep up with the constructive criticism as it is necessary for a brand to be aware of their customers’ needs and concerns, but leave the unrelated comments at the door. The goal is to educate, not annihilate.
I truly believe in Saoi’s potential, so it would be a serious shame to see such a promising young brand falter at the hands of a tiny mistake, one that is definitely amendable. This was a good learning opportunity for the brand and I hope they have taken the time to reflect upon their actions and their consumers’ feedbacks.
