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Hong Kong-listed Chow Tai Fook Jewellery targets mainland China’s smaller cities to tap young consumers’ growing appetite for gold
- ‘Young consumers in lower-tier cities have demonstrated an increasing penchant for gold and diamonds, and the time is right to set up stores there,’ says managing director
- Chow Tai Fook expanded rapidly in China during the pandemic as consumers bought more gold as a safe-haven investment
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Daniel Renin Shanghai
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, China’s largest jewellery retailer, is moving into smaller, less affluent cities in the mainland to pursue growth as retail spending falters in the world’s biggest consumer market.
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Young consumers in lower-tier cities have demonstrated an increasing penchant for gold and diamonds, and the time is right to set up stores there to tap the burgeoning demand, said managing director Kent Wong Siu-kee.
“We found that some of the customers would travel from their hometowns to top-tier cities to visit our stores,” he told reporters at a media briefing in Shanghai. “Consumers in the lower-tier cities are willing to spend [on jewellery] and we need to open outlets that are within their reach.”
Wong expressed confidence in China’s economy, predicting that the recent turbulence will turn out to be short-lived.
China’s mainland now accounts for nearly 90 per cent of Chow Tai Fook’s total revenue. The Hong Kong-listed retailer runs 7,269 shops in the mainland, most of them based in the affluent top-tier and second-tier cities.
03:22
The story of Chow Tai Fook – from goldsmith to jewellery conglomerate
The story of Chow Tai Fook – from goldsmith to jewellery conglomerate
After reaching their target to open 7,000 stores in the mainland in the past financial year, two years ahead of schedule, the company plans to add another 600 to 800 outlets in the mainland in the current financial year.
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