Chinese queuing to shop at Tiffany and Cartier rival Laopu Gold, the ‘Hermès of gold’

Vivian Wang bought a gold medallion decorated with a carved dragon from Laopu Gold, a Beijing-based jeweller known for its handmade accessories, nearly a decade ago, but forgot about the brand until last year, when it appeared all over her social media feeds. Swiping through post after post about Laopu Gold, the sales and marketing professional from Shanghai came across her dragon medallion, which was now selling for 220,000 yuan (US$30,370), double what she paid. Wang decided to brave the queues outside Laopu’s Shanghai store in tourist hub Yu Garden to make another purchase, this time an intricate jewellery box constructed from thinly woven gold strands with a dragon and phoenix on the lid. Wang said she would like to pass it on to her eight-year-old daughter one day. After the [Covid-19] pandemic, people want to pursue something more elevated that offers some spiritual sustenance Vivian Wang, shopper at Laopu Gold in Shanghai “I’m a jewellery lover. Tiffany, Cartier or Bulgari, these are all brands I have bought,” Wang says, citing rival retail chains owned by LVMH and Richemont. “I have diamonds and gemstone jewellery but … long-term it’s gold that offers the best way to preserve value.” She adds: “After the [Covid-19] pandemic, people want to pursue something more elevated that offers some spiritual sustenance … this traditional dragon and phoenix box has an auspicious meaning; it also offers this kind of spiritual sustenance.” Laopu Gold is a notable outlier in China’s luxury goods market, which has been hammered by an extended consumer malaise because of concerns over job and wage security and a prolonged property slump. The company has blended Chinese cultural elements within contemporary designs to emerge as a uniquely home-grown luxury brand. The strategy has been fortified by its use of gold, considered a safe investment by Chinese consumers during periods of instability. Laopu Gold did not respond to interview requests. But a source with direct knowledge of Laopu’s business said its annual sales approached 10 billion yuan in 2024, up from 3.18 billion in the previous year. “Laopu’s average store revenue is nearly 300 million yuan, compared to the average single-store revenue of most international jewellery brands in China [of] around 100 to 200 million annually,” the source said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by 김상훈 (@lowfatmilk_kimsanghoon) Investors have been paying attention. Since its Hong Kong IPO in June 2024, Laopu’s share price has surged tenfold, from HK$40.50 to HK$725 (US$93.30). The company has come a long way since founder Xu Gaoming, a former fisheries clerk, started his first gold jewellery business in 2009; he established the brand Laopu Gold – Laopu means “old store” – in 2016. With prices for most of its popular products ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 yuan, Laopu now competes more directly with Western luxury brands such as Tiffany and Cartier. Its exclusivity is drawn in part from a strategy pulled from the playbook of its Western competitors. As rising gold prices in 2024 pushed investors towards bullion and coins and gold jewellery sales in China fell 24.69 per cent to 532.02 tonnes, Laopu twice raised prices on its designer jewellery and trinkets. It again upped prices by 5-12 per cent last month. To build a luxury brand takes a long time. You need a story, you need a history, you need the craftsmanship, but it’s possible Jonathan Yan, principal at consultancy Roland Berger Laopu has also eschewed the spot price for gold to which other domestic competitors peg their selling rates, charging a premium for design and branding. Its bestselling gourd-shaped pendant – a symbol of good fortune in Chinese culture – contains 24.4 grams of gold but sells for over 29,000 yuan, nearly 1,200 yuan per gram. Other brands might sell similarly weighted products for 900 yuan per gram in line with the 700 yuan per gram price of gold. While gold-focused brands including Chow Tai Fook and Lao Feng Xiang each have store networks in the thousands, Laopu has chosen to keep its retail experience exclusive. It has just 37 stores across China, including Hong Kong and Macau, and now plans to enter the international market with an coming Singapore store. Chinese consumers have dubbed Laopu the “Hermès of gold”. While Chinese brands have stolen market share from Nike in sportswear and L’Oreal in beauty, they have struggled to threaten global luxury players which charge a premium for storytelling, heritage and design. High-profile entrants in this space, such as clothing and furniture maker Shang Xia, co-founded by Hermès but since sold to Ferrari owner Exor, and the Kering-owned jewellery brand Qeelin, have found a niche audience for products that attempt to balance Chinese and Western luxury elements. But analysts say Laopu is a contender to fully break through the luxury glass ceiling. “It’s not an imminent threat to global luxury groups because to build a luxury brand takes a long time. You need a story, you need a history, you need the craftsmanship, but it’s possible,” said Jonathan Yan, a principal at consultancy Roland Berger in Shanghai. “If you have the best-in-class design, good quality, good service, it’s possible.”

Chinese queuing to shop at Tiffany and Cartier rival Laopu Gold, the ‘Hermès of gold’

Its sales soaring despite upping prices, Laopu Gold finds a ready market in China for its contemporary designs. Can it do the same overseas?

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