Henry Cheng’s Chow Tai Fook Jewellery seeks luxury clout with LVMH executive hire
Jewellery retailer hires Gabriela Ferreira from Loewe to enhance brand desirability and oversee its product mix and sales channels.
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, controlled by the family of Hong Kong tycoon Henry Cheng, has appointed an executive from LVMH’s fashion brand Loewe to lead a global expansion and boost its appeal to luxury shoppers.
Gabriela Ferreira, who served as general manager for Southeast Asia and Oceania at Loewe, will be in charge of the jewellery retailer’s push further into Southeast Asia and other markets, according to a statement on Wednesday. She will focus on enhancing brand desirability and oversee its product mix and sales channels, it added.
The appointment comes as Chow Tai Fook, a flagship company of Cheng’s family empire, has revamped its logo and is renovating some 8,000 of its stores in a bid to restyle itself from a traditional retailer into a luxury accessories brand.
The group, which has seen its shares plunge 47 per cent this year, is facing increasing challenges from surging gold prices that have curbed demand for its main revenue-generating gold products and squeezed profit margins. A consumer spending slump in mainland China, its biggest market, is also weighing on sales.
An upgraded image could help the brand draw more wealthy shoppers, whose spending power remains strong. Top luxury brands like Hermès and Chanel have remained resilient against the broader economic slowdown, largely thanks to their focus on cultivating high-net-worth customers.
By diversifying into Southeast Asia, Chow Tai Fook also looks to capture the potential of some of the world’s fast-growing tourism and middle-class consumer markets. The company will look to Ferreira to drive the expansion of its retail network in popular travel retail markets, according to the statement.