77-year-old Poh Heng gets a modern makeover

What sets the collection apart from Poh Heng’s previous offerings is customisation. Customers can choose from 16 in-house ring designs and pick from white, yellow, rose or champagne gold – creating nearly 200 possible combinations.

“This generation values individuality and personalisation. They want good value, but different from others,” Goh noted.

The company is also reimagining si dian jin. Instead of the typical ornate, statement designs meant for a single event, the new minimalist pieces feature sleeker silhouettes and subtler gold finishes. They can be worn daily for work or social occasions, addressing younger consumers’ preference for practicality and versatility.

This collection brings together new designs and existing pieces that Poh Heng had not previously marketed as a cohesive wedding range, said Goh.

To mark the launch, Poh Heng partnered local pastry chef Janice Wong to create an exclusive, limited-edition xi bing – the traditional bridal gift box containing ceremonial treats.

Wong designed bespoke pastries for the collection, which customers can receive as a gift with the purchase of si dian jin pieces.

Retail refresh

The transformation extends to Poh Heng’s physical stores as well. The company has overhauled all 18 of its Singapore outlets, replacing its signature red interiors with warmer, muted colours for a more welcoming feel.

There is also a greater focus on service excellence. Instead of focusing solely on sales volume, retail staff have been trained to take a more consultative approach.

This means speaking to customers to understand their needs, rather than immediately asking about budgets and matching products to price points.

As Goh put it: “A lot of times, we are very eager to ask first thing: ‘What’s your budget? What do you want to buy?’ But I think the conversation should be a little bit different.”

To support this service shift, the company has brought customer service in-house after finding that outsourced providers did not meet brand standards. The mandate: same-day response to all customer feedback, with proper resolution or escalation within three days.

“To have good service in one or two locations is not difficult, but to have that consistency across 18 shops, across almost 90 sales ambassadors? That’s not easy,” the group CEO said.

“We look to Singapore Airlines as the beacon of service excellence. It’s about bringing down that premium service into a mass-market space.”

Ultimately, the aim is to move beyond transactions to build relationships. “We not only want customers to trust us at face value, but ideally (also as) a long-term partner.”

Besides renovations, Poh Heng is reviewing leases with its landlords to relocate outlets to more prominent spots within the same malls. Some of these stores were signed under previous management and are not as accessible or visible to shoppers as they could be, Goh explained.

People first

The company’s external transformation has required equally significant internal changes, Goh noted.

Introducing new ways of working to a legacy brand with many long-serving staff meant securing buy-in from employees accustomed to traditional processes.

But uplifting human capital is “a big opportunity”, he said. “We have a lot of team members who have been with us for a long time, and it’s a challenge and an opportunity for us to see how we can uplift and integrate them for the future business that we want.”

The approach has been two-pronged. The company invested in digital literacy training and upskilling programmes for long-serving staff, many of whom are Malaysian and primarily Mandarin-speaking, to better serve Singapore’s diverse customer base.

At the same time, Goh introduced quarterly employee engagement surveys and town halls – the first in the company’s history – to give staff opportunities to voice suggestions for improvement.

Employee engagement scores were below market benchmarks when he first joined the company, but they are now “way above” them, he said.

Pragmatic approach

As for whether further retail expansion is on the cards, Poh Heng is “not in a number-of-stores race”. Goh said that in retail, businesses can expand to a point where new stores lose money rather than make it.

Poh Heng therefore takes a data-driven approach to retail investments, analysing demographics, population mixes, income levels and proximity to transport nodes such as MRT stations before opening new outlets.

The company has identified room to grow in Singapore’s central and north-east regions, where it remains underrepresented. “We are not at the optimum (number) yet,” Goh said, adding that the brand could open a few more stores in these areas.

Sparkling in the region

At 77 years old, Poh Heng is also looking outwards. It is “very keen and interested in the Asean market”, the group CEO said.

The company has done some due diligence work and aims to make its first forays into the region “within the next couple of years”. “Internationalisation is a given. It’s a matter of time and resource.”

Goh views e-commerce as the first step. “What is beautiful about the e-commerce space is that it’s… borderless”, whereas retail is typically “confined within territory”, he said.

“There’s a big opportunity for us to step out of Singapore to capture the opportunities within the Asean region, or even the global market.”

Poh Heng began its e-commerce push two years ago, and while volumes are not yet high, sales are growing steadily, he added.

He is confident that through digital marketing and online sales, the jeweller will build brand awareness and familiarity among regional customers before it opens physical stores in new markets.

“If we do decide to go in, then it’s going to be a lot easier because people already know the brand, have engaged with the brand, and have had transactions with the brand.”

But he was tight-lipped on the specific markets, saying only that Poh Heng is eyeing countries “where the middle class is exploding”.

“With the middle class coming out in quite a number of developing countries, the appetite for luxury goods will be there, and it will only grow with time.”

Keeping with tradition

Although it is embracing change, Poh Heng is careful to preserve the core values of its business, which have attracted and retained customers over decades.

For instance, it still sells 22-karat gold – at 91.7 per cent purity – at the same market price as competitors’ 916 gold, which has 91.6 per cent purity.

This practice effectively gives customers higher value, said Goh. All of Poh Heng’s jewellery also undergoes third-party testing through Singapore Accreditation Council-certified labs before reaching the stores.

This philosophy of preserving core values while driving modernisation extends to how the management works with the founding family. Goh, who leads a team comprising mostly non-family members, said finding “the right balance” has been key.

“Certain things… the family may be more risk-averse (about), and you need time to use data-driven sources to show them, maybe do a little bit of experimentation.”

When he joined Poh Heng, he recalled that the family emphasised that the brand is about trust.

He admitted the message did not resonate with him at first, as he felt that the term “trust” had been commoditised, and anyone could claim that their brand is trustworthy.

But over time, he came to understand how the company built trust tangibly through its business practices, such as selling high-purity gold and rigorous quality testing.

These efforts go towards solidifying Poh Heng’s position domestically. The company may not be the No 1 jeweller, but Goh wants it to be “the most impactful brand” – one defined by its influence rather than sheer size.

“We want to be the most impactful brand, one that does things and brings things out to the market in a different way – different in a way that creates more value and enriches the experience,” he said.

“Today, Poh Heng is synonymous with trust, quality and craftsmanship. We’re very intent (on preserving) that.”