Jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook reported that its sales in comparable stores in January and February fell by 2% on a year-on-year basis due to continuing weakness in the retail market in China. In terms of sales in comparable stores decreased by 3%, reports Rapaport.
The company noted that there was a lull in the retail market in China during the whole period, except for the Chinese New Year.
Sales in comparable stores in China for two months fell by 7% in monetary terms, while the volume of sold products decreased by 10%. However, sales in Hong Kong and Macao rose by 5-16% in volume, continuing the trend of gradual improvement of the market that began in November, the jewelery company said.
Chow Tai Fook expects that the implementation of its program to expand operations and open new stores will take longer than planned, due to the weakened market conditions in mainland China. During January and February, the company opened 32 stores, bringing the total number of outlets in China, Hong Kong and Macao to 1,834.