But the steady expansion of the group’s retail network, combined with the recovery in consumer spending after pandemic-control measures shifted in Q4, helped mitigate the majority of the impact during the financial year.  As at 31 March 2023, the group had a total of 7,269 point-of-sale outlets in the mainland, surpassing its target of reaching 7,000 by FY25. Its future growth plan will focus on quality expansion and enhancing the productivity of its existing retail networks. Expansion is key Alan Chan, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group’s chief brand officer, said that the group has been leveraging its local knowledge and access to franchises to capitalise on the opportunities that have emerged in recent years. “We have achieved a remarkable milestone by expanding to 7,600 stores worldwide, surpassing our original network expansion schedule for FY2025. This puts us in a favourable position to capture business and growth opportunities in the future,” he told Inside Retail. Following the revival of global travel retail, Chan said the company has seen an increase in foot traffic in the APAC region, and it stands ready to recalibrate its network and resources to capture growth opportunities as they emerge. A renewed interest  Interestingly, Chan said that the younger generation of shoppers has shown greater interest in gold jewellery as part of the emerging ‘guochao’ trend, driven by a heightened sense of national pride.  ‘Guochao’ means ‘national wave’ or ‘Chinese fashion’, and it essentially represents a cultural movement celebrating Chinese heritage and homegrown brands, challenging the dominance of international labels. “We also observed that younger customers possessed a deep appreciation for Chinese culture and aesthetics, particularly drawn to the reinvented designs and exquisite craftsmanship found in gold jewellery,” he said. According to Chow Tai Fook’s sales figures for FY23, over 50 per cent of members who purchased an item from its Hua Collection, a collection that reinterprets elements of traditional Chinese culture, were aged 35 or below. The digital element With the increasing number of tech-savvy consumers, the line between physical and digital is becoming increasingly blurred.  In this vein, the group has been adopting an omnichannel approach to retail with various online-to-offline (O2O) channels for a seamless experience. “Harnessing the current trends, such as direct sales via live streaming and short videos in third-party marketplaces, we continue to expand and enhance our ability to engage our customers digitally,” Chan elaborated. During the Lunar New Year this year, the team ran a challenge on Douyin, TikTok’s sister app in China, , as part of the Hua Collection, generating more than 140 million hits. The group also leveraged the strength of social media influencers and key opinion leaders (KOLs)  to attract its target customers.  “One example of such a collaboration is our partnership with renowned mainland Chinese KOL Austin Li, for a live streamed charity event during the pandemic in 2022 with overwhelming results. Around 5,000 pieces of jewellery were sold within 30 seconds,” he noted. An evolving marketplace According to Chan, a growing number of younger customers are indulging in self-gifting during the holiday seasons and to celebrate personal milestones. The group offers personalised services through its digital jewellery customisation platform. “Empowered by our automated production line and digitalised supply chain, we not only deliver simple designs through an express 24-hour customisation service, but also more sophisticated personalisation that provides greater design flexibility,” he explained. He said that some of these products can be completed in 10 days, which is half the production time compared to the previous lead times.  By leveraging new technologies, the platform redefines the connection between bespoke jewellery manufacturers and consumers, and enables ultra-fast customisation, practising stringent quality control while being able to respond swiftly to market changes. Backend technology To support its extensive retail network and e-commerce business, the company has automated different aspects of production and inventory replenishment to shorten lead times.  This includes a highly automated logistics and distribution centre in Shunde, China, where a connected and RFID-enabled warehousing and surveillance system provides real-time inventory management and item-level stock movement data.  “This data is fed to an analytics system that is developed in-house to generate accurate and timely information for smart production, triggering automated inventory replenishment and distribution,” Chan noted. Around 40 per cent of the group’s total product distribution volume is handled by this automated logistics centre, which is also equipped with an advanced logistics and delivery system, ensuring that customer orders and replenishment requests can be fulfilled efficiently.