SME

By Kaii Lim | First published: April 26, 2022   Updated: January 16, 2025

Dynamic Malaysian entrepreneur Kaii Lim shares the secrets of how his local skincare brand expanded overseas to win over global fans.

• Malaysian skincare brand CLEF started out with a simple mission: to create a holistic skincare range suitable for every skin type.
• Founder and entrepreneur Kaii Lim built domestic popularity before turning to custom logistics solutions to launch his brand on the global stage.
• With universal product appeal and a commitment to an exceptional delivery experience, CLEF continues to expand and win over new customers.

Entrepreneurship is a tough journey, and some ideas take a long time to come to fruition. My current business, CLEF Skincare, was a slow burner. It took years of research to create a skincare formula that finally worked.

But even before this, entrepreneurship was in my DNA. I’ve been an entrepreneur since my college days, starting with a clothing brand called 97Bros, and a jewelry brand, 18Celebration. 

Reaching our target audience with a new type of marketing

Looking for ways to make advertising budgets stretch further, I began to dabble in a new form of marketing: online influencers. Back then, influencer marketing was still in its infancy, unlike today when the industry is worth billions. However, it proved to be the right platform, and my brands quickly gained traction and exposure as a result.

In 2019, I kick-started a holistic Malaysian skincare company with a business partner. We named it CLEF Skincare – CLEF is the combination of clean and effective, the two core principles of our products.  

Our philosophy for CLEF is that we don’t want to treat skin issues – we want to uproot them. To do that, we needed high-quality ingredients that are indiscriminately friendly to all skin types and suitable for different environments. In Asia, many countries have high humidity and extreme temperature changes. And globally, urban living is blighted by pollution and exposure to different everyday chemicals.

Taking the leap to expand overseas

CLEF grew rapidly, fueled by product innovation and affiliate marketing. A major win was securing a partnership with the department store SASA, who stocked our products in 72 of their stores. Our sales reached 50,000 products sold in a period of 20 months.

My next goal for CLEF was to expand the brand. Malaysia is my home turf with a sizeable population, but ultimately the market is limited. I didn’t want to just build the best skincare brand in Malaysia. I wanted to compete on the global stage.

To get the brand name in front of an overseas audience, my team and I spent a long time strategically targeting the right influencers in each country to identify suitable platforms for our marketing campaigns. 

Within a year, overseas sales had penetrated 17 countries. To this day, our four biggest markets for CLEF products remain the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. We also serve other markets in Europe, such as Germany and Spain, and in Asia, Singapore and China.

Solving CLEF’s logistical challenges

Any online retail business knows that logistics issues create unwanted delays and disrupt the customer experience. During the early days of expanding internationally, we faced multiple logistics challenges – long shipping times, delivery issues at the last mile, lack of verified shipment receipts, mis-delivery and more. 

Once we started using FedEx, we had immediate access to a host of e-commerce solutions tailored for SMEs like us. We found the ideal balance between speed and cost, and I was able to pass on the convenience of a hassle-free shipping experience to my customers – a win-win.

One feature that stood out for me was FedEx Ship Manager, which allows my team to prepare shipments and print shipping labels online. The platform also ensures everyone has visibility into the digitalized status updates of each shipment. Regular notifications and updates are sent to my team as well as the customer. 

Taking advantage of e-commerce solutions for SMEs

The FedEx Delivery Manager International solution also lets recipients customize deliveries to fit their busy lives. Our customers can set notifications and track where their purchases are in every stage of the delivery journey.

As an SME, it’s important that our customers have peace of mind and enjoy a great purchase experience. As business owners, we’re hyper-aware that a positive customer experience is vital to a company’s longevity and growth.

Getting skincare logistics right is key to scaling my business. It’s more than just delivery. It shapes how we operate. Knowing what shipping capacity and transit speeds I have access to means I can plan long-term for both local and overseas marketing. I know what quantities I can dispatch orders in and how to avoid delays in delivery. 

FedEx is always optimizing its e-commerce solutions for entrepreneurs looking to grow. Working with a reliable logistics provider like FedEx has placed CLEF on a stronger footing, and we remain focused on expanding our reach in international markets – onwards and upwards!