Chow Tai Fook plots new grounds to chase China’s tourists

Henry Cheng, chairman of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd.

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. plans to open new stores outside its main markets in Hong Kong and China, as it chases its Chinese customers outside familiar territory.
“While overseas travel is increasingly popular among the mainland Chinese, it means more and more of their shopping budgets are spent in the new tourist destinations outside our major markets,” the world’s largest listed jewelry chain said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Tuesday.
Chow Tai Fook plans to double its number of points of sales, including concessionaires and standalone outlets, in the next 10 years. Stores in tourist hotspots outside mainland China and Hong Kong will also be its target “to capture the spending power of the affluent outbound Mainland Chinese tourists,” it said.
The expansion plan comes as the jeweler said pro-democracy protests held near its Hong Kong stores curtailed Chinese tourists. Travelers from China splurged the most on tax-free shopping last year, accounting for 27 percent of spending, according to a study by tax-refund points operator Global Blue.
Shares of Chow Tai Fook rose 3.3 percent to close at HK$10.76 in Hong Kong yesterday, the most since June 18. The city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 1.1 percent. Moxy Ying