Sasa is set to open between five and seven new stores across Hong Kong and Macau this year, after its network in the cities shrank by a third in the past three years to about 80 stores due to border closures.
Chief financial officer Danny Ho said that city also faces long-term challenges, including Chinese consumers shifting to buying more online and the rise of rival shopping hubs in Macau and on the duty-free island of Hainan, according to a report issued by The Straits Times.
In anticipation of a slow return of tourists, Sasa has been shifting its focus to local consumers, including selling more personal care products such as shampoo and shower gel in addition to the cosmetics and skincare products typically favoured by tourists, Ho said.
“We’re making sure that we expand to other channels,” Ho said. While more tourists will come back to Hong Kong, “we have quite a conservative outlook, so we are not banking on that.”
Both SARs have recorded a plunge in tourist arrivals amid China’s strict zero-Covid strategy, leading to low retail sales in both cities. LV
