Sass: You’re watching Singapore Business Review. Joining us today is Amanda Koo, founder of eClarity, one of Singapore’s Largest Online Diamond Jewellers. Welcome Amanda.
Amanda: Hi Sass, very good morning to you, and thank you for the introduction. Yes, my name is Amanda, and I’m happy to be here.
Sass: So Amanda, tell us about eClarity, what pain points are you trying to address in the industry?
Amanda: Yeah, so I founded eClarity, bespoke diamond specialist about 17 years ago. And I remember till today the mission is still the same. I want Singaporean to be wearing something different. Jewellery sometimes can get a little boring in Singapore, people just buy bigger and bigger diamond. You get a 1 carat, I get a 1.5 carat, and someone else want a 2 carat. So, beyond the size, we’re looking into surprising Singaporeans with not just the size, but we go into bespoke design. So, the design that you wear, you will find no one else wearing the same design. We are also looking at pink diamonds, black diamonds, yellow diamonds. We are also looking at different shapes, fancy shapes, not all diamonds are round, so it can be marquise, can be cushion, can be square. So, from different aspects, right? We just want to surprise Singaporeans with the options, possibilities, and capacity that diamonds can bring to them.
Sass: Now what gave you the idea of creating a rental subscription business model for jewellery?
Amanda: Thank you for asking that, Sass. It is awesome and the whole team is so happy and hopeful that this new rental subscription model that we have launched, which is called The Sample Line. The Sample Line is now available to be downloaded on Google Play, or App Store. You see, traditionally, for rental, typically you rent that one piece, or the two pieces, for your wedding, your biggest birthday party and it’s typically expensive. So, what we want to do, it just dawned upon me, from two angles. Like people rent bags, people rent clothes, but what about renting jewellery? You know, I have the excess capacity, being a designer’s house, eClarity, for the past 17 years, we have more than a thousand pieces of master sample line, which is that one piece that we design, we don’t sell them typically, we keep them in our database, just so that we have the masterpiece. So, in order to not waste excess capacity, we have decided to share this with the entire Singapore. You see, the thing is, how many pieces of earrings can someone own? For example, let’s say if you spend $5,000 on a pair of earrings, on a yearly basis, you only get that one. But now, our mission, The Sample Line, is going to allow Singaporean, say you pay $690 for a yearly subscription, you get $10,000 worth of jewellery multiply by 12, because you can rent a piece of jewellery every month and the whole wardrobe of eClarity is yours. So, we’re sharing that availability to Singaporeans. And this is to support sustainability, to support sharing economy, to reduce excess capacity. So, I think in the end Singaporeans get to be more fashionable, more statement pieces on their faces, and I hope Singaporeans become happier with this service that is available to them.
Sass: Speaking of databases, as the owner of Singapore’s first Realtime diamond database, can you describe the process in implementing this?
Amanda: So, the story has to start 17 years ago, so I was a graduate from NUS, in Computer Science, so I’m a very geeky person. I also have a gemological graduate diploma from GIA. So, my plan was to integrate this two knowledge: embracing technology and also gemology into one. And the best thing to do is to provide a realtime diamond database, to Singaporeans, and actually to the world. Now as one company, there’s a limit of how many diamonds I can have but if I consolidate the diamonds from all over the world, and I have the technical capacity to make it real-time, so example if I collaborate with someone, a big supplier from Hong Kong, another one from Israel, another one from New York, and me in Singapore, and we put all our diamonds on one database, and if I sell 5 pieces, 10 pieces today, I take it off from the system immediately and it get updated from the system. Now the whole world gets to have multiplied of option. So, what I did, it was firstly of course to get a trustworthy technical team, to build the FTP, to build the API, so that all these can be seamlessly integrated. Of course, the source of the diamond becomes important because we only work with site holders, so people who are recognised in the industry, with many years, generations of experience in the industry. And then we have to make sure that everyone has that responsibility to tick off a diamond whenever a diamond is sold, so that there’s no disappointment to their end user. So, we put all these together, the technical part, the human part, and then the UI part, and then we published to eClarity.com.sg. Now in fact, in recent three years, in November 2019, eClarity has spinoff a new labgrown brand, which is called BA.sg, offers more than 5000 pieces of labgrown diamonds, we are doing it the same manner, it is very well received. All labgrown diamonds are IGI Certified, and it’s also real-time.
Sass: So now that most industries are actually pushing more towards a more digital environment, how do you see the jewellery industry continuing it digital journey? What would it be like in the future?
Amanda: I think digitalisation is such a popular word these days, right? I think when we talked about digital journey, we talked about the sales platform, the marketing platform, and beyond that is also and education platform. So you want to sell something digitally, you want to things like what I said, like real-time diamond database. Beyond that, a marketing platform, where you do your videos, you do all your social media, you market yourself well on your TikTok, your Youtube, whatever new platform that you have. And then we are doing education platform too, so every week, we push out new content in webinars where it allows Singaporeans to sign up, to attend webinars host by gemologist, so sometimes I host it, sometimes it’s a replay. So we talk about different topics, like how to identify diamonds, labgrown diamonds, and how do you customise bespoke wedding bands, so these are what’s already available, so moving forward, digitalisation, it has to be something that is mind-blowing. What is mind-blowing to me at this moment, will be things like, AI. So, AI Grading. All along diamond grading has been done by gemologist, 5 gemologists decide on one diamond. If three thinks it’s a D colour, two thinks it’s a E colour, the report would be printed as D. Moving forward, digitalisation we should look at AI, AI where you collect a good sample database and your grading is based on data, based on algorithm. Now beyond that, AI could also go into customer service, right, so that is one part. Now the other part, that is interesting is NFT, we know everyone heard of NFT, and how NFT is on art, and you know every masterpiece of jewellery, let’s say engagement ring, that I customised for you, is unique to you. Because at eClarity, every piece is handmade and created for the couple. Now these items can be taken photo, and then be available as an NFT.
Sass: Given the discussion about digitalisation, in your opinion, would brick-and-mortar store still be essential in the future?
Amanda: I think how online and offline, we are going in between. How we buy online, and then we buy offline, it is true that people today, especially post-covid, we are so much more comfortable online. Brick-and-mortar store are getting less and less important. Before covid, it was not easy to convince someone, in the UK, to buy something from eClarity or BA, for example. But during covid, we become so comfortable, you know everyone is ordering food, everyone is ordering grocery, and everyone is ordering computer, and all that online. We also see that the trend is that people are more comfortable to attend webinar and buy diamonds online. That’s exactly what happened between 2020 and 2021 and continue on to 2022. Now with the market open, people are coming back to the store, people are scheduling an appointment now, say “Can I look at the diamonds?” Now the thing is there’s always two groups of people, sometimes these two groups of people they are very fluid, they migrate between online and offline. As a business owner, is important to find that sweet spot, that is right for your business model, that is right for your client base. Do you want to do 70% online, 30% offline, brick-and-mortar, or the other way round? Are you the one that does 50-50? So, I think that brick-and-mortar will never be totally gone, because people still liked the personalisation, but it could go down to 90-10. That’s my thought, and eClarity and BA.sg and together with The Sample Line. Because for The Sample Line you can just order from app, and the item will be delivered to your doorstep. And every month you get to have a new pair of earrings. So, that’s also fully online, you don’t have to come down to choose the earrings that is for rental.
Sass: So, Amanda, what is your vision for the company in the next 5 years? How do you plan to stay ahead of the competition, should there be any in the future?
Amanda: Continue to revolutionise. So, I’ve been in the business for 17 years, I am always telling myself that we need to do ground-breaking ideas every few years. It’s almost like a stop kind of thing, every 5 to 7 years, something new will come out. This is unavoidable. So, you need to be a trendsetter, trendwatcher, trend leader, continue to revolutionise, sometimes it could be the product that is different, sometimes it could be a marketing platform, sometimes it could be a purchasing platform, but the world keep changing. To stay ahead of competition, we have to continue to change. We will need to tweak, don’t over tweak. Be very determined, but don’t be over persistent if one idea doesn’t work, fine tune it. Always exercise an idea at the right time. I give the example, I’ ve been watching labgrown diamonds for 17 years, but the right time, was year 2019, when you launched the right product, market it in the right platform, at the right time, that’s when you can stay ahead, and that is continuously the vision of eClarity. The vision of eClarity, BA.sg has never changed, it was always to empower love, empower happiness, and through science, we educate and inform science, through art, and through love.
Sass: We’re going to wrap up today, Amanda, is there anything else you like to add? Or perhaps maybe where can we get more information about eClarity?
Amanda: Please visit our website, our website is eClarity.com.sg and specialise in bespoke jewellery customisation, you can schedule an appointment if you’d like to see me. You can just drop a WhatsApp, our customer service number 9833 1220. We welcome WhatsApp, you can just say that you like to meet Amanda in person and our customer service will arrange a time for you. Now the second brand BA.sg is specialised in labgrown diamond, and we have webinars conducting every week. Subscribe to the webinar, you will see me talking to you how to identify and differentiate natural diamond and labgrown diamond. Last but not least, The Sample Line is truly empowering, so I am a subscriber myself, I become so exciting as a person, I actually get different pairs of earrings, different pendant, different bracelet every month, it can match my clothes. So please go to App Store and Play Store, download The Sample Line, then just browse around. If you like anything we’ll deliver to your door. And Singaporeans, be unique, be special, be fashionable, and believe in yourself, and I am doing my part, to empower happiness to you. If you need help in anyway about jewellery, I’m here for you to speak with you.
Sass: Thank you for your time, Amanda, we look forward to visit your website as well.
Amanda: Thank you Sass, I look forward having you at my store too.