Rocking on

LOW Ziwei and Low Ziyin of ZCOVA (www.zcova.com) are on a quest to rock the boat of the local diamond and jewellery retail scene. By operating their business online (without an inventory and boutique to maintain), the brothers are able to offer industry-certified and conflict-free precious stones for 20 to 30% less than the overinflated prices in the market.
More so, they can focus on providing a personalised shopping experience that fits your request, budget and occasion, sans the intimidation.
“When we look at the traditional bricks-and-mortar businesses, we’re concerned about the way salespeople do their jobs. It’s very commission-driven, so they tend to push the diamond to you and back it up with a once-in-a-lifetime card – even if the diamond is small or doesn’t suit your budget.
“At ZCOVA, we’re very personal with our customers and we respect their budget. We don’t want them to feel like they didn’t buy the best because they didn’t have the money. So we try to manage their requests,” said Ziwei, who’s also in the chemical trade and has eight years of auditing experience.
theSun spoke to Ziwei and Ziyin, a jewellery design major and certified Gemological Institute of America (GIA) gemologist, about the brand’s honest approach and expansion plans.
Retailing precious stones online is a novel concept here in Malaysia. How did the idea come about?
ZY: This online concept comes from an American online diamond jeweller. It operates the same way as we do whereby customers can select their preferred quality and specifications on the website. However, it has a lengthy list of diamonds with a lot of different prices, and that may not help the uninitiated make informed decisions.
So what we do is we pre-select and offer what’s most important. In terms of diamond cut, we offer only the Excellent (EX) cut because that’s the main factor of a diamond’s beauty. Why give something else that may risk your reputation when you can give something that’s inarguably beautiful?
What’s been a constant challenge of your start-up and how do you tackle it?
ZW: A lot of our customers want to see the diamonds in the flesh, but the fact is you can’t tell the difference with the naked eye. How diamonds look depends on what the certificate says – they’re quantifiable. Wherever you buy it, it is what it is. Even gemologists – like Ziyin – would need master stones to tell them apart.
ZY: Many customers want the highest colour grade, D. But I tell them there’s no point paying an extra RM4,000 when you can’t even distinguish between D and E or F. Unless you are buying for investment purposes, I suggest you spend the extra money on your wedding or honeymoon.
ZW: We had customers who bought grade E diamonds and had to compromise on the carat to adhere within the budget. Their partners ended up unhappy – because while you can’t tell the colours apart, you definitely can with the size.
That’s why I always say for diamonds, size does matter (laughs)!
Name the most rewarding part of running the business.
ZW: Whenever we get text messages from our customers, saying things like, “Hey I did it, and my fiancée loves the ring! We saved this much and now we can plan our honeymoon. I’m going to refer my friend to you.” This job is all about customer happiness, and that’s how we know we’re achieving something.
Finally, what can we expect from ZCOVA in the year ahead?
ZW: We’re converting our current office in Kota Damansara into a studio. Throughout the year we noticed a demand for custom-made jewellery, so we envision a studio experience where you can come into our office – by appointment – to design bespoke jewellery on the spot, within an hour.
I hope it’ll be ready by April, the same time as our new website. The new site will involve our customers even more in their jewellery purchase. There’ll be a plethora of ring selections, they can mix and match, and upload images of jewellery they have seen so we can produce a similar item.