Hong Kong jeweller TSL targets mainland China’s middle class in expansion drive, unswayed by weaker yuan and trade tensions
The company plans to add 100 stores in mainland China, but may raise prices to counter effect of weakening yuan
Tse Sui Luen Jewellery International (TSL), one of the largest Hong Kong jewellers, is betting on mainland China’s rising middle class to expand in the face of a weakening yuan and trade war fears.
The firm plans to add 100 stores in mainland China over the next two years to its existing network of 387 shops, in a vote of confidence in the country’s retail market.
China will remain “the growth engine for TSL for the coming 20 years” because of the rising spending power of the middle class, said Estella Ng Yi-kum, deputy chairman and chief strategy officer at TSL, in an interview.
The country’s household wealth is forecast to surge by about US$10 trillion to reach US$39 trillion in 2022, according to a report by Credit Suisse in November, while the country’s middle class is expected to benefit from planned changes to China’s tax code.
However TSL’s expansion plan comes as China’s retail sector is showing signs of a slowdown, with the government struggling to maintain robust economic growth while cutting back on the debt that has fuelled much of that growth, all the while under the shadow of escalating trade disputes with the US.