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Carat Capital · The trade paper of the jewelry world · Est. MMXXVI · Free to read
CC/07-26Sunday 26 July 2026The Retail & Technology Desk · Retail-Tech Desk · Hong Kong
Retail-Tech Desk · Hong KongRetail & Technology · CC/07-26

Chow Tai Fook up fifteen, and gold by the gram did it

Chow Tai Fook's quarterly retail sales rose 15.1%, with Hong Kong and Macau up 44.8% and weight-based gold jewelry up 64% there as softer gold revived demand. Luk Fook gained 32%, Chow Sang Sang 16%.

PLATE IKey figures
Same-store gold vs design · Chow Tai Fook, quarter to June
GOLD BY WEIGHT — HK/Macau+63.7%
GOLD BY WEIGHT — mainland+38%
FIXED-PRICE / DESIGN — mainland−1%
Source The record · Greater China counters, quarter to June
What changed

Chow Tai Fook, Greater China's largest jewelry chain, reported retail sales value up 15.1% year on year for the quarter to June, its fiscal first quarter. Mainland China supplied 83.6% of the total and grew 10.7%; Hong Kong, Macau and other markets, a sixth of the business, jumped 44.8%.

What it means · The Desk’s View

A 64% surge in gold jewelry is a metal story wearing a retail costume, and metal stories turn. The chains booking these numbers are selling grams while gold sits just off a record; the test is whether the same shoppers come back for a diamond or a design once the bullion trade cools, or whether the counter has simply become a savings account with a clasp.

The article3 sections · 220 words
Table I · Same-store gold vs design · Chow Tai Fook, quarter to June
Figure
GOLD BY WEIGHT — HK/Macau+63.7%
GOLD BY WEIGHT — mainland+38%
FIXED-PRICE / DESIGN — mainland−1%
Same-store sales, quarter to June 2026 (company). Bars show size, not sign. Grams beat design when gold is cheap. Carat Capital graphics desk.  CC/2026/119

IFifteen up, and it isn't design

On a same-store basis the mainland's self-operated shops rose 19.6% and franchises 15.7%, while Hong Kong and Macau together climbed 41.7%, Hong Kong up 35% and Macau up 64.6%.

One product line did the work. Weight-based gold jewelry, sold by the gram rather than by design, saw same-store sales leap 38% in the mainland and 63.7% in Hong Kong and Macau, as a softer gold price after June's pullback pulled buyers back to the counter.

Fixed-price, design-led jewelry told the opposite story, slipping about 1% in the mainland. When gold reads as value, shoppers buy the metal and skip the markup.

IIThe whole region, one trade

The pattern is regional, not a single company's. Luk Fook posted quarterly retail sales up 32% and Chow Sang Sang up 16% over the same window, according to Rapaport's trade wire.

Across the big Hong Kong-listed names, the story is the same: gold-as-savings is doing the selling, and the strength runs deepest where local buyers treat a chain necklace as a store of wealth rather than an accessory.

IIIRising sales, fewer doors

Yet the footprint is shrinking even as sales rise. Chow Tai Fook closed a net 258 mainland locations in the quarter, ending June with 5,434 points of sale, part of a multi-year rationalization of a once-sprawling network.

Its April-launched Dawn Collection cleared more than HK$870 million, and the group leaned on brand upgrades to lift average prices. Investors stayed cool: the shares traded down about 2% and are off roughly 13% over six months.

The depthMethod, sources, corrections · open what you need
01Method · the desk’s arithmetic+

Same-store sales, quarter to June 2026 (company). Bars show size, not sign.

02Sources2 documents
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