Image credit: Chow Tai Fook
Hong Kong jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook is expanding its new lower-priced chain to target younger shoppers in mainland China and is also to close up to eight Hong Kong and Macau stores by the end of the current financial year. Up to six will also close next year with most of the shops that are being axed located in tourist areas.
MD Kent Wong said the new chain will not provide a huge boost to revenue for now but the launch was a must-do to avoid it losing younger consumers.
Its new chain, called Monologue, offers jewellery at around a third of the price of the products in Chow Tai Fook stores. The first Monologue store opened last autumn in Shenzhen with up to six more planned this year.
Hong Kong has seen a major tourist downturn in recent years and this has hurt its retail trade, particularly at the luxury end of the market. But Chow Tai Took has also been affected by intense competition among jewellers in key tourist areas, as well as by Hong Kong’s high retail rents. However, Kent Wong said the company’s business is improving with consumer sentiment recovering in Q4 and comparable sales in mainland China also rising.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
