Tag: jewellery

  • King Fook blames protesters for purple ink

    King Fook blames protesters for purple ink

    Luxurious jeweller King Fook says it misplaced $149.25 million within the yr to March 31, blaming the Occupy Central protest motion and the decline in cashed up Mainland buyers.

    The group’s turnover from its retail enterprise plunged 27.eight per cent to $817.6 million (from $1.13 billion the earlier yr) “following the overall decline of the Hong Kong luxurious items retail market”.

    As the corporate discounted inventory to extend gross sales, its gross revenue margin fell from 23.7 per cent to 20.9 per cent.

    It closed or downsized 5 underperforming shops to consolidate its flooring area.

    In its submitting, King Fook stated the spending of vacationers from Mainland China was adversely affected by the Chinese language Authorities’s anti extravagance marketing campaign, which in flip critically affected the posh items retail market.

    “Furthermore, native consumption sentiment was negatively impacted by the outbreak of the Occupy Central protests through the interval from September to December 2014.

    “The Hong Kong luxurious items retail market has not recovered because the outbreak of Occupy Central and has additional deteriorated by weakened consumption patterns and deceased spending of vacationers from Mainland China. The group expects the sluggish market circumstances will proceed and the problem to the posh items retail market is extreme.”

    It says it can “improve its competitiveness by cautiously reviewing and adjusting its retailer places, working prices and product combine in order to raised tackle the altering vacationers’ wants and the native market”.

    The corporate expects lease reductions within the yr forward reflecting the slowdown of the posh items retail market.

    It should additionally develop a web-based platform in order to not miss out on the development in the direction of on-line buying. It hopes a web-based presence will direct web customers to go to the group’s bodily shops.

  • Luk Fook’s gem-set focus pays off

    Jeweller Luk Fook says regardless of a 17.1 per cent fall in gross sales within the final monetary yr, it nonetheless achieved its second greatest gross sales yr on report.

    And it says specializing in gem-set gross sales, with larger margins, meant its revenue for the yr to March 31 fell simply 9.1 per cent.

    The group recorded income of HK$15.923 billion (2014: HK$19,214,930,000). With its gross margin up by 2.2 factors to 24.1 per cent, because of strong progress in gem-set gross sales, gross revenue reached HK$three.832 billion. The revenue attributable to fairness holders decreased by 13.four per cent to HK$1.61 billion, which was higher than anticipated and marked the group’s second highest document.

    All jewelry retailers have posted declining gross sales by greenback worth, largely because of the ‘gold rush’ of 2014 which created a excessive baseline to match 2015 gross sales towards.

    “Though the excessive base impact because of the gold rushes has pale within the second half of the yr, the difficult international financial system, foreign money depreciation and relaxed visa necessities in different in style vacationer locations hampered the buyer sentiment of Mainland Chinese language vacationers in Hong Kong and Macau,” Luk Fook chairman and CEO Wong Wai Sheung stated.

    “However, with the group’s excellent gross sales technique, gross sales mixture of gem-set jewelry merchandise which bear larger gross margin has been efficiently elevated. The expansion in general gross margin resulted in a revenue enchancment of the retail enterprise in Mainland China. Along with the passable efficiency within the wholesale enterprise, it mitigated the influence of the drop of retail income in Hong Kong and Macau market.”

    Wong Wai Sheun stated the group carried out past expectation for the yr, coming off the ‘gold rush’ of 2014.

    The retail enterprise continued to be the first gross sales driver for the group with its income down 22.three per cent to HK$12.552 billion, accounting for 78.eight per cent of the group’s complete income. After the completion of the acquisition of 50 per cent curiosity within the issued share capital of China Gold Silver Group, an working firm partaking in jewelry retailing and franchising beneath the brandname of “3D-Gold”, the group turned certainly one of its suppliers.

    Along with the rise in variety of licensed outlets, the wholesale income grew by 14.eight per cent over the earlier yr to HK$2.794 billion, 17.6 per cent of the group’s complete income. Licensing revenue decreased by 6.6 per cent to HK$578 million, primarily as a result of gold gross sales returned to a comparatively regular degree.

    All year long, gold merchandise remained probably the most favorite merchandise amongst clients and along with platinum merchandise contributed roughly 60.2 per cent of gross sales.

    Similar retailer gross sales for Hong Kong and Macau fell 28.2 per cent and for Mainland China by 29.eight per cent.

    Mainland Chinese language guests continued to be the key driver for the retail enterprise in Hong Kong, which remained the important thing income for the group, contributing roughly 59.eight per cent of complete gross sales.

    Through the yr Luk Fook opened 115 new licensed outlets and closed 4 self-operated outlets. As at March 31, the group had a complete of 1383 outlets globally in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Korea, Singapore, the US, Canada and Australia.

    Wanting ahead, Wong Wai Sheung stated Mainland China’s financial slowdown, the adjustment to the coverage of Particular person Go to Scheme, and the abroad foreign money devaluation have brought on the Mainland Chinese language vacationers to modify to neighbouring nations for consumption, which affected the enterprise progress of the group.

    “The group stays prudent about our enterprise improvement briefly time period. Nevertheless, we’re nonetheless optimistic concerning the mid- to long-term enterprise improvement. We’ll proceed to utilise cross-selling methods and supply extra product collection that are diversified and should meet mass market wants. This helps to entice clients’ want for consumption and increase the gross sales of gem-set jewelry merchandise which bear comparatively larger gross margin.”

  • How Chow Tai Fook is setting Hearts on Hearth

    How Chow Tai Fook is setting Hearts on Hearth

    A yr on from shopping for Hearts on Hearth, Hong Kong headquartered jeweller Chow Tai Fook stays bullish concerning the model’s prospects in Mainland China, regardless of the static jewelry market.

    Chow Tai Fook has three standalone shops in China and, one concession there, together with one other concession in Hong Kong. It plans 10 standalone shops in China by the yr’s finish and the corporate will proceed to search for alternatives for brand spanking new concessions.

    “Hearts of Hearth is a really younger model, however we’ve got expertise with the Chinese language group in Taiwan the place Hearts on Hearth is ranked as probably the most desired and sellable diamond model,” stated Chow Tai Fook MD Kent Wong in an interview with Rapaport News revealed on-line.

    “Chinese language shoppers in Taiwan like perfection. Subsequently, the perfectly-cut diamond is one thing that they should have. The identical style applies in Mainland China,” Wong defined.

    “Hearts on Hearth can leverage Chow Tai Fook’s big buyer base. Chow Tai Fook manages about 1.5 million VIP clients in China. Their repeat purchases account for about 35 per cent of our complete gross sales, and about 65 per cent of our repeat buy clients need gem-set jewelry, particularly with diamonds.

    “For Hearts on Hearth, we have now already set a three-year improvement plan. We need to improve the purchasing expertise within the retailer by way of promoting campaigns and packages to help the model.”

    Chow Tai Fook purchased the Hearts on Hearth luxurious diamond model final June for US$150 million.

    Kent stated Hearts on Hearth is an effective complement to Chow Tai Fook as a result of it’s a premium luxurious diamond model that has been within the business for many years.

    “Chow Tai Fook can profit from Hearts on Hearth’s expertise in creating a luxurious model. It has wonderful jewelry design and brings extra of a worldwide imaginative and prescient to our design group,” he informed Rapaport News.

    He stated the Chinese language authorities’s anti-graft marketing campaign had affected the posh watches, attire and drinks sectors, however not jewelry.

    “Our analysis exhibits that about 70 per cent of girls in China’s Tier I and Tier II cities, need to obtain a diamond engagement ring. Yearly, we’ve got about 12 million to 13 million couples getting married in China so the bridal market supplies secure demand, regardless of the market state of affairs.”

    In a broad ranging interview Wong talks concerning the distinctive RFID tagging Chow Tai Fook is utilizing instore to review buyer behaviour when taking a look at jewelry, advertising initiatives for Hearts on Hearth and benefiting from on-line to drive retail gross sales.

  • Jewelry and watch companies prime performers in luxurious area

    Jewelry and watch companies prime performers in luxurious area

    India has bounced again and is confidently rising within the luxurious markets as different BRIC nations wrestle to collect tempo, says Deloitte’s annual International Powers of Luxurious Items report. By the top of final fiscal, world’s 100 largest luxurious items corporations had generated gross sales of $214.2 billion regardless of foreign money headwinds and intense technological disruption. Developed economies just like the US and Europe look like on the rebound, thus, boosting the buying energy of upscale clients.

    The Indian financial system, too, is recovering from its stoop.Jewelry and watch corporations are prime performers, producing the second-largest share of the posh items sale. Corporations like Titan, Gitanjali Gems and PC Jeweller all make the minimize as newcomers within the Deloitte’s prime 100 luxurious manufacturers. The research additionally established that the channels on which luxurious shoppers store are always evolving, making it crucial for corporations to know the altering wishes and shopping for behaviours.

    “A number of key points of the posh sector shall be unrecognisable within the subsequent few years. The travelling luxurious shopper will change the idea of nationwide boundaries; millennial shoppers will characterize a big proportion of gross sales quantity in luxurious; and the aggressive forces pushed by know-how will proceed to disrupt at a quicker tempo.” stated Gaurav Gupta, senior director, Deloitte, India.

  • Chow Tai Fook takes on landlords

    Chow Tai Fook takes on landlords

    Hong Kong jeweller Chow Tai Fook is flexing its muscle in a softening retail rental market, in search of lease cuts of as much as 20 per cent.

    The listed firm says some 30 leases throughout the territory will come up for renewal later this yr and the corporate will probably be in search of reductions within the wake of a difficult retail market which has seen gross sales plunge in some luxurious classes.

    In an interview revealed on Bloomberg on-line, MD Kent Wong stated the corporate has already been granted reductions of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent in renewal negotiations this yr, however he didn’t reveal the variety of leases concerned.

    He advised Bloomberg that circumstances in 2015 are “very particular”.

    “We’re demand pushed; we anticipate we will have a 20 per cent rental discount.”

    Chow Tai Fook has reported a fall in same-store gross sales in Hong Kong and Macau of 26 per cent within the first quarter of this yr – the fifth consecutive quarterly fall.

    Wong stated his firm might shut some shops this yr – singling out its Peak outlet for instance.

    The jeweller has 90 shops in Hong Kong, interesting largely to Mainland Chinese language vacationers. However customer numbers from China have been falling, and people nonetheless coming are much less prosperous than the standard guests of previous years. These with larger disposable incomes have began travelling additional afield, many spooked by the Occupy Central protests of the second half of final yr.

    The mainland authorities’s clampdown on present giving has additionally affected gross sales of upper priced luxurious items in Hong Kong.

    Regardless of a lower in complete retail gross sales of two.three per cent in Hong Kong in the course of the first three months of 2015, Wong expects a restoration later within the yr.

    “The market basically wants six months to at least one yr to restructure the product combine catering to the altering style of consumers,” he advised Bloomberg.

    “We stay optimistic about Hong Kong within the mid- to long-term.”

  • Tesco Lotus confirms expansion plans

    Tesco Lotus confirms expansion plans

    Tesco Lotus remains committed to Thailand and will continue to invest in expanding its retail and online channels, according to a report in the Bangkok Post newspaper.

    Tesco Lotus has previously announced plans to open five large stores and 50 express stores over the coming year.

    But a cloud descended over the company’s future in the wake of parent Tesco UK’s financial turmoil, with talk the Thai division may be sold off to pay off debt in the UK.

    However, in an interview with the Bangkok Post, CEO John Christie said Tesco will also increase investment in programs to help reduce the prices of fresh food, groceries and household items.

    It would appear that any plan to liquidate Tesco’s Asian assets are at least on ice.

    In its annual result announced last week Tesco said its combined Asian operations posted a profit of £565 million, down 18.4 per cent largely on falling sales in China, where the brand is being phased out. That’s considerably more than the £467 million profit in the UK and £164 million in Europe.

    Christie also said Tesco Lotus has so far invested over 4 billion baht (US$30.6 million) under its Roll Back price campaign to help cut product prices, and another 600 million baht ($18.37 million)to help slash the price of fresh food.

    “Tesco Lotus has made huge investments over the years to help Thais save on their cost of living. We are confident that our investment plan will strengthen our leadership in the modern retail sector, while we continue to work with Thai suppliers and business partners to grow together with us and help Thai people cut the cost of living,” Christie said.

    “Thailand is a strategic market for the Tesco Group. Growth opportunities here remain promising and we will continue to invest to grow our business”.