Bella Ammara is a local fashion company that aspires to make its mark to be the leading Muslim contemporary boutique in Malaysia. The company keeps its brand promise which is bringing Muslimah fashion that highlights modest fashion wear.

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Bella Ammara reveals that they focused on online marketing during the pandemic to sustain themselves in the business field.

Islamic Modest Fashion Wear Surge in Malaysia

Malaysia, which has a population of over 32 million people and a Muslim population of about 60%, has seen a surge in modest clothing, which has been a turning point in the fashion industry.

 

Fueling the market growth for modest clothing, the market globally was expected to be worth  $402 USD billion (RM1.683 trillion) by 2024 according to the Global Islamic Economy report 2019-2020 in explaining the Islamic clothing market size.

 

“With Muslim spend on apparel and footwear estimated to be worth $283 USD billion (RM1.185 trillion) in 2018, there is significant potential for modest fashion to take a much larger slice of the $2.5 trillion (RM10.47 trillion) global apparel market,” stated the Global Islamic Economy report.

 

With the resurgence of Islamic contemporary, Bella Ammara has not been left behind in fulfilling the aspirations of Muslim modest dress and successfully integrated her branding with Malaysians' needs and demands. 

 

Bella Ammara was founded in 2012 by Muhammad Khalif Samsudin with his wife, Sharifah Nabilla al-Yahya Syed Sheh also known as ‘Belle’ who started the business at first, however, the business later was taken over by the Belle family.

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The path of Bella Ammara's business in making its way to the business industry.

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Bella Ammara was inspired by the word 'Bella,' which refers to the founder's name, and 'Ammara,' which indicates a 'Beautiful lady with strong Iman.'

 

The name itself expresses its stance as Syariah-compliance Islamic fashion, covering the 'aura,' or Muslim women's responsibility to conform to religious requirements in fashion.

 

The boutique has positioned its branding in Islamic modest wear which the company started the business by selling prayer garments also known as ‘Telekung’, headscarves and other Muslim-friendly clothing.

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Bella Ammara Striving to Fulfil Market Demand 

Social media manager of Bella Ammara, Anis Shukri, 25, stated that Bella Ammara has specifically targeted customers that will best suit the demands of the products.

 

“Usually for Bella Ammara, the age range would be for 30 years old and above and most of the clothes that we sell are Muslimah clothing where the clothes are breastfeeding friendly and wudhu friendly,” she said during the interview. 

 

Adding to that, the target audience is majorly women, such as pregnant women, who require clothes that allow them to do ablutions. It is owing to Bella Ammara's business strategy to retain Muslim-friendly apparel to sustain the branding.

 

Bella Ammara, which operates six boutiques in Malaysia, namely Bella Ammara Bangi, Shah Alam, Kuala Lumpur, Sungai Petani, Johor Bahru, and Kuantan, has a diverse range of stock distributes and marketing due to its location and consumer preferences.

 

Following the difference in demand, Marketing and Sales Manager, Muhammad Suzairi Musliman, 40, stated that most boutique that has the biggest demand is from Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor. 

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“We focus on high-demand products, such as Telekung, because they are not seasonal. When we look into Telekung's sales, we can see that it is still profitable from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.”

 

“Baju Kurung would only be in great demand during the festival seasons. However, after that, it will eventually drop. If we concentrate on talking. So far, alhamdulillah, during the last two years in focus until this year, we may classify it as one of our bestseller products,” he added. 

 

With the concept of ‘luxury’ Muslimah clothing, Bella Ammara has set the benchmark by supplying exclusive materials at a reasonable price which allows customers to wear high-quality clothes while also getting the chance to be fashionable.

 

Bella Ammara recently released BAkini 3.0, which is a collection of swimwear for Muslim women that are elegant and modest.

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The Golden Opportunity of Online Platforms

Online platforms have become a great game changer especially after the pandemic starts for almost all business owners to replace physical stores.

 

In Bella Ammara, the company makes use of it to the fullest to promote new products in the market and as engagement with the new and existing audience.

 

In the interview session with Anis, the boutique has four social media platforms which include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to share the boutique’s activity such as sales or new products.

 

“It can be said that we are now in a pandemic, so we are using social media as a platform to introduce the Bella Ammara brand.

 

“We would usually share videos as people nowadays are more attracted to watch the video,” Anis said during the interview at the Bella Ammara Bangi’s boutique.

 

The video can catch the audience’s interest to have a look at the product detail compared to just a still picture because customers can experience the quality of the product itself.

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As explained by Anis, the team would be happy to

explain details of certain products on social media

such as the type of materials and the close-up so the

customers can have better insight into the product.

 

The promotion made on online platforms will be in

creative content and based on demand by the

customers and they can purchase it from the website

as well if they are interested in any item that has been

promoted on social platforms.

 

On the other hand, to keep the Islamic contemporary

the theme on social platforms, Bella Ammara also

emphasizes postings that contain Islamic quotes such

as hadith and prayer time.

 

“With the initiative being made, people will know and

get value from those features rather than not knowing

about it. They can also share it among their friends,”

Anis said.

 

Adding to that, the online platform provides Bella Ammara with a significant possibility to continue operating during the pandemic. 

 

It has been proven by Suzairi during the interview session, as he said online sales contribute the most in the monthly sale compared to offline.

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Sales contribution before and after the pandemic of COVID-19.

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Suizairi also told the journalist that the company made drastic changes for the method of their sale from offline to online as the pandemic started so they could survive with the new norms.

 

The Wiser the Marketing, the Better the Income

Great marketing will lead to a positive prospect of the company as from there people will become more familiar with the brand.

 

However, the marketing strategy needs to be planned wisely so the company will get the profit from the investment that has been made.

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The company will spend around RM100,000 in a month as the initiative for their business marketing.

 

“Websites alone would be around RM50,000 to RM60,000, and the remainder would go towards photoshoots, marketing and other necessary things to build the name of Bella Ammara,” said Suzairi.

 

In the interview, he also added that Bella Ammara will consider feedback from the customers to improve the product quality and other factors needed.

 

“We will produce something that has demand from the customer and not on what we want.

 

“Thus, the feedback such as what colours and type of gift will be put in our consideration to market the products.

 

“Then, what type of feedback such as negative feedbacks that commented about the fabric being too thin, we will improve it in terms of production quality,” he added.

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On top of that, in an interview session with the boutique assistant, Nur Syamimi Ashari, 22, Bella Ammara will take note of the best seller item and know the feedback behind it.

 

“I would say different products would have different preferences, especially for telekung.

 

“Our main bestsellers are Sharifah telekung in black colour, the most compliment we receive from the client is the colour is different from other competitors and does not easy to turn yellowish.

 

“However, we also offer white telekung for our clients as they can choose a variety of colours,” she said.

 

Apart from that, Bella Ammara also has its own uniqueness in attracting potential customers.

 

The company will usually follow the event calendar where big sales take place which is usually on 1.1, 9.9 or 10.10 as the customer will be alert to the promotional trend.

 

“However, we in Bella Ammara would not focus so much on sales because we do not want people to wait for the sales to come so they can purchase it at the lowest price.

 

“Even when there is a sale, we would limit it to about the first 50 or 100 people only so the earlier customer that did not get a chance to buy it at the discounted price will not feel discontent,” Suzairi said.

 

To make it fair, the sales will be done underground and is not going to be published publicly.

 

In conjunction with that, Bella Ammara would offer and blast the news regarding promotion personally to the existing customer.

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