A.M Aesthetics is a company that provides technologically advanced aesthetics treatments for its customers. The treatments that the company provides include laser, fillers, Botox, slimming, and these are performed by either doctors, or by therapists under the supervision of doctors. A.M Aesthetics has received quite a number of awards, and is the only listed aesthetic chain in Singapore. For example, in 2022, the company is the Gold award winner of the Allergan Facial Aesthetics Award, the Daily Vanity Beauty Awards, and it has also received the Top Three Medical Spas Certificate of Excellence from Threebestrated. As for awards that have been given due to readers’ votes, A.M Aesthetics has received Picosure Treatment, Q-Switch Treatment – Pearl White Laser, and Rejuran Treatment – Signature Korean Baby Skin awards.
A.M Aesthetics provides complimentary products and services such as A.M Skincare that has been developed by a Korean dermatologist, and it is currently being sold through different social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, SEO, SEM, Website Traffic, and Douyin. A.M Aesthetics has also recently launched on platforms such as Lazada and Shopee.
The company’s objective is to make people look good and build confidence. Doctor Tea, the Chairman of Accrelist Ltd and the owner of A.M Aesthetics, is a strong believer of technology.
He says, “Aesthetics is a kind of technology that can make your life better if you do the treatment right, and regularly.” The reversal of his age using technology has happened to him and some of his staff.
Although more people are opening up to aesthetics treatments, some people are resistant to it, because they want to preserve their original look. Doctor Tea’s philosophy is, “As long as you look good, and don’t look plastic, it doesn’t matter if you look like your original self. It is more important to look good by general consensus.”
Doctor Tea currently owns two listed companies:
A.M Aesthetics and Jubilee, which is an electronics company. When asked about the reason he started his own establishment, he replied, “Three years ago, we bought over a chain, Refresh Laser. With that, we re-branded it into A.M Aesthetics, and expanded into many services.” Running the business has not always been smooth-sailing for Doctor Tea. He encountered difficulties regarding manpower initially, as he was not from the trade, so he went on social media for hiring purposes. Because of the nature of social media, he did not know the quality of the people whom he had hired. The doctors, therapists, and consultants whom he had hired has been through two cycles of change, and has only stabilized recently. It was through trial and error that Doctor Tea managed to overcome this obstacle. Although it can be difficult for business owners to hire doctors, with their current size, Doctor Tea is able to manage the workforce perfectly. Currently, Doctor Tea has a manpower of about seventy for A.M Aesthetics.
During the Covid period, A.M Aesthetics has given away masks, as well as skincare products, to nurses and hospitals because they are too busy to take care of their skin. A.M Aesthetics also plans to launch A.M water bottles and tissue
paper to give away to elderly folks in two months’ time.
Doctor Tea attributes the success of A.M Aesthetics to the passion that he has for aesthetics. Since it has made him look younger and healthier, he strongly believes that this technology will slowly replace beauty salons. Beauty Salons might have done well in the past, but the results that they provide are not as good as aesthetics. Now that aesthetics is affordable, Doctor Tea believes that there’s a lot of room to create the demand. “The sky is the limit for the aesthetic market,” he says, “It only depends on how well you can manage.” As A.M Aesthetics is governed by MOH, and most of the treatment is provided by doctors, the results of the treatments are more effective.
The strength of A.M Aesthetics is that since it is listed, it has more resources, and has many outlets to better serve customers. With more business, it is able to purchase a larger volume of raw materials, and as such, is able to keep its pricing competitive. Customers enjoy better services and treatment from the company as well. The threat facing A.M Aesthetics is the challenge to keep the right manpower.
To establish a successful company, Doctor Tea thinks that the market must have a certain kind of demand for its services. As long as the demand is sufficient, all that is needed are the right resources. These resources include manpower, as well as financial resources. For Doctor Tea, demand is the number one factor in driving a business’ success. He explains, “If the demand is big, so long as you are better than the rest, chances are that you can make it.”
For Doctor Tea, the most rewarding achievements that the company has achieved is that it has successfully made people look healthier and better looking, while giving him the right returns. Doctor Tea says, “If you can do something that you like and make money from it, it is definitely rewarding.”
How does A.M Aesthetics differ from its competitors? For one, it is a listed entity, which requires a certain level of governance. Being listed provides the company more resources to grow, which is how it has become one of the largest aesthetic chain in Singapore. It also benefits from being so large, because the amount of machines, treatments, and materials for the treatments purchased allow A.M Aesthetics to get better pricing. For instance, when A.M Aesthetics purchases more materials for Botox and fillers, the supplier would give them bonus items, which makes a difference. With better cost control, the company is able to provide more affordable services for its customers than its competitors.
Staff performance is managed via policy. Targets are set on a monthly basis, subject to market conditions. Incentives are given to its staff. These are not restricted to monetary incentives. Doctor Tea also gives gifts such as moon cakes, luggages, as well as tissue paper. As a result, outlet managers are very motivated – to the extent that they create their own bonding sessions with the staff every one to two weeks.
The company’s culture as described by Doctor Tea is that it is very people-oriented. While there is always a demand for retail businesses, it is a question of how it can be managed to be better. Therefore, Doctor Tea values people the most. Other than that, the services provided must be good and affordable. To ensure operation efficiency, training is conducted internally and externally. Every week, there is a minimum of one training to upgrade the treatments, as well as to familiarize the staff with treatments and machines. In July, a training handbook will be developed to make sure that the Standard Operating Procedures are better managed.
Training, for Doctor Tea, is the most important practice of all.
A.M Aesthetics operates internationally. There are three outlets in Malaysia, which are opened with local partners who are shareholders. The company is set on expanding into Bangkok and Cambodia within the next few months. The reason for expanding into Bangkok is that the prices of the services in Bangkok are equivalent to that of Singapore when the premium group is the target market, while the cost of operation is lower, like in Malaysia. Therefore, Doctor Tea considers the chances of being successful in Bangkok to be quite good. The company also plans on opening a minimum of two more branches within Singapore itself by the end of this year. Since three years ago, when Doctor Tea invested in the company, he envisioned it to become a chain in Singapore. This took him a couple of years to achieve. Now that he is expanding into Malaysia and Thailand, he wants A.M Aesthetics to become the largest chain in Bangkok. He sees a future for A.M Aesthetics where it is able to make people believe in aesthetic technology, and to make them look better. Doctor Tea explains, “When you start to pay attention to how you look, you will definitely pay more attention to your diet.” Not only will people look good on the outside, they will also be healthier on the inside.
When asked about plans for franchises, Doctor Tea says that he is not planning to make A.M Aesthetics into franchises. This is because franchises will have to run their own businesses, and will have difficulty in hiring doctors. Non-business owners would have to manage their own manpower, which will be an issue for them. Doctor Tea plans on continuing his model for his expansion into Johor Bahru, which is to acquire shareholders if there is interest in the company.
