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China's jewellery retailers take guochao to lower-tier cities
Personal accessories
Luxury retail
Greater China
Building on the popularity of guochao (or ‘China-chic’), some of China’s biggest jewellery retailers are expanding their physical footprint into lower-tier cities.
What’s happening
- By 2025, jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook is planning to add another 2,000 outlets to its existing total of more than 5,000 in 660 cities; many of these will be in third- or fourth-tier cities.The focus will be on “affordable luxury” with average prices of around Rmb10,000 ($1,575), the Financial Times reports.
- Lukfook Jewellery plans to open as many as 350 new outlets this year, many in lower-tier cities. At the same time it is expanding its e-commerce operations to reach younger generations.
Context
- More than half the sales of Chow Tai Fook’s heritage collection, inspired by the traditional emblems of emperors and empresses, went to Millennial and Gen Z buyers in Q2 and Q3 2021.
- China’s personal luxury goods market doubled in size between 2019 and 2021 to about $69bn, according to figures from management consulting firm Bain & Company.
- Reduced travel options have meant fewer purchases being made outside mainland China.
- Luxury Swiss jeweller Richemont this week reported Q3 sales growth in China slowing to 7%.
Final thought
“[Gen Z] likes different types of jewellery . . . their preference for the design of Chinese cultural elements could also rise during times of high international tensions” – Xianchi Dai, associate professor of marketing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, speaking to the FT.
Sourced from Financial Times, Reuters [Image: Chowtaifook.com]
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