Editor’s Note
This article examines the divergent trends in China’s gold jewelry market during the Spring Festival holiday, highlighting a general slowdown in retail traffic alongside notable regional exceptions.
During the Spring Festival period, the gold jewelry market presented a situation of both “cold” and “hot” extremes. The latest research report from CITIC Securities indicates that, affected by the extended holiday and the diversion of non-tourism consumption, foot traffic at national gold jewelry retail terminals has declined compared to the same period last year, with this trend being more pronounced in first-tier cities. However, the Shenzhen Shuibei gold market bucked the trend, with foot traffic during the Spring Festival period increasing by over 30% year-on-year, and the old-for-new business surging by more than 50%, becoming a rare bright spot in the industry.
Price strategy adjustments have become an important means to stimulate consumption. Lao Fengxiang announced it will initiate a new round of price adjustments on February 28, while Chow Tai Fook plans to follow with price increases in mid-March. Simultaneously, major brands have successively launched promotional activities, commonly offering discounts of 80-150 yuan per gram during the Spring Festival period, with some one-price gold jewelry items enjoying discounts of 8-9%. These measures have effectively released consumer demand, promoting small-weight gold products to become the market mainstream.
Market analysis points out that current gold consumption exhibits obvious structural characteristics. On one hand, the diversion of non-tourism consumption has led to reduced foot traffic at traditional jewelry shopping malls; on the other hand, the value-preserving nature of gold and the demand for holiday gifts form a synergy, prompting consumers to lean more towards choosing small-weight, high cost-performance products. The outstanding performance of the Shenzhen Shuibei market is a concentrated reflection of this consumption trend, and its wholesale-retail integrated model demonstrates stronger resilience during special periods.