In “Chinese Whispers,” we share the biggest news stories about the luxury industry in China that haven’t yet made it into the English language.
In this week’s edition, we discuss:
- French jeweler Chaumet's WeChat push,
- Chow Tai Fook's declining sales, and
- JD.com's beauty business.
1. French high-end jewelry brand Chaumet launched a pop-up store on WeChat - luxe.co#
Chaumet, the premium jewelry brand owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, started to sell jewelry pieces on WeChat to wealthy Chinese consumers this week. The move will deepen the brand's digital presence in China and provide digital-savvy customers with a fresh online experience.
Chaumet's mini-program store is promoting the "Jeux de Liens" collection (two necklaces and two bracelets). The retail price of each item is around 1,475 (RMB 10,000). The store will only remain open for one month, ending on February 16. According to a report by Chinese fashion news media luxe.co, some products were sold out immediately upon the store launch on January 16, signaling the brand's popularity among Chinese consumers.
2. Chow Tai Fook's same-store sales dropped in the third quarter of 2019 - LadyMax#
This week, Hong Kong jewelry brand Chow Tai Fook reported a 7 percent decrease of the same-store sales in its mainland business in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019 (quarter ending December 31, 2018), even though its revenue grew by 1 percent during the same period. This was the first time in two years that Chow Tai Fook's same-store sales in mainland China fell. Reduced domestic spending by Chinese consumers was the main reason for the decrease, analysts noted, and that signaled a softening of the Hong Kong retail industry.
3. E-commerce giant JD.com doubles down on beauty business - Jiemian#
In 2019, China's second-biggest e-commerce platform JD.com will strengthen its operations in the beauty business after seeing huge growth from the sector last year, according to Hu Shengli, president of JD Fashion and Lifestyle. The company will improve its marketing efforts for beauty products to attract more female customers.
In 2018, JD.com upgraded the beauty department to the first-tier department, recruiting a list of high-profile brands including Helena Rubinstein, SK-II, and L'Occitane en Provence to sell on its site.
