Once hailed as the "Hermes of the gold world," Laopu Gold is now staging an unusually aggressive discount campaign. Compared to previous promotions, the current sale offers extended duration, deeper price cuts, and broader product coverage. Most offline items are available at 10% off, while some online products can be purchased at an effective discount of up to 15%.
In the secondary market, certain Laopu Gold pieces are being resold at a 40% discount, with some dealers outright refusing to buy back the brand's inventory, citing high risk of loss. The shift reflects the company's deep exposure to gold price fluctuations. After a sharp rally last year, gold prices have corrected significantly this year, putting pressure on the brand's cost structure.
Laopu Gold recently released a profit forecast for the first half of the year, projecting revenue of approximately RMB 19.8 billion to RMB 20.45 billion, representing year-on-year growth of 60% to 66%. Adjusted net profit under non-IFRS measures is expected to be between RMB 4.31 billion and RMB 4.36 billion, up 83% to 85% from the same period last year. However, multiple brokerages have flagged that second-quarter results fell short of expectations, leading them to cut earnings forecasts and target prices for the stock. As of August 11, Laopu Gold's market capitalization stood at approximately HKD 64 billion, down more than HKD 120 billion from its historical peak.
Laopu Gold launched its nearly month-long Qixi Festival promotion on July 23, extending the discount period and increasing the discount intensity. At its Beijing SKP store, after combining purchase thresholds, multiple reward points, and gift incentives, some scalpers were offering effective discounts of 21%. In Shenzhen, store staff said most items are eligible for a 10% discount, while online prices on the official flagship store can be as low as 15% off. Staff explained that the discounts are intended to thank loyal customers, and that some participating products may be redesigned or discontinued after the sale. They also noted that directly reducing official list prices is rare, and the current promotion functions as a form of indirect price adjustment.
The price weakness is also evident in the secondary market. A 7-gram Laopu Gold pendant, originally priced at over RMB 20,000, is now listed at around RMB 13,800, equivalent to a 30% to 40% discount. Some resale shops now price Laopu Gold items based on the spot gold price, without adding any brand premium. A few dealers have stopped accepting Laopu Gold altogether, saying "it's too easy to lose money." One consumer reported that a cross-shaped vajra pendant bought in March for over RMB 20,000 was quoted at just RMB 12,000 by a second-hand dealer, roughly a 40% discount. Foot traffic has also cooled, with social media posts from Hangzhou noting that stores no longer draw the long queues seen in the past.
Founded in 2009 by former civil servant Xu Gaoming, Laopu Gold positioned itself as a luxury brand from the outset, avoiding mass-market penetration strategies used by traditional jewelers. The company highlights its "ancient method gold" craftsmanship and intangible cultural heritage value. It claims to be the first brand to promote "ancient method gold" in China and the leading brand for handmade gold pieces. In 2019, it pioneered the use of pure gold as a base for hand-set diamonds, challenging the industry standard of K-gold. Laopu Gold also participated as the lead drafter of China's first group standards for "ancient method gold" and "ancient method gold-set diamond" jewelry.
Xu Gaoming set a high-end path for the brand, with strict store location requirements. Its first store opened at Beijing SKP in 2017, and locations are mostly in top-tier shopping malls like SKP, Hang Lung Plaza, and MixC. As of end-2025, Laopu Gold operated only 45 self-owned stores across 16 cities. In 2025, over 80% of its sales (RMB 25.793 billion) came from offline stores, with average sales per store reaching RMB 573 million. Xu Gaoming has stated that the company's vision is to become a world-class luxury brand rather than just a jewelry retailer. Most products are sold at a fixed price rather than by weight, leading to a premium of 55% to over 80% over traditional gold jewelry.
This strategy worked well during the gold price rally, as consumers perceived appreciation in gold value. Laopu Gold raised prices three times in 2025, with cumulative increases exceeding 50%. Each price hike triggered overnight queues and stockouts. However, as gold prices have declined, the "buy on the rise, sell on the fall" mentality has shifted, with consumers now waiting rather than rushing to purchase. In the recycling market, a second-hand luxury store owner noted that when gold prices were rising, Laopu Gold could command a premium of RMB 2,000 to RMB 3,000 per gram, but that premium has now shrunk significantly.
Gold prices have been volatile in 2025. Au99.99 on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, which began the year above RMB 600 per gram, more than doubled to a peak of RMB 1,256 per gram in January, before correcting to around RMB 860 per gram by end-June. As of August 11, it closed at RMB 946.7 per gram. While most gold jewelry companies hedge or control inventory, Laopu Gold has taken the opposite approach, accumulating large amounts of gold without any hedging. Xu Gaoming has said that hedging would mean abandoning the brand's original aspiration of becoming a world-class luxury brand. This strategy paid off handsomely during the upswing but has created a heavy inventory burden now. The company's inventory ballooned from RMB 4.088 billion at end-2024 to RMB 16.044 billion at end-2025, a 292.49% increase.
On July 27, Laopu Gold issued a profit forecast for the first half, projecting sales of RMB 22.7 billion to RMB 23.35 billion, up 60% to 65% year-on-year; revenue of RMB 19.8 billion to RMB 20.45 billion, up 60% to 66%; and adjusted net profit of RMB 4.31 billion to RMB 4.36 billion, up 83% to 85%. The company attributed the growth to rising brand influence, product optimization, and higher spending by high-value customers. It expects the impact of new product launches, customer management strategies, and store network expansion to become more apparent in the second half of 2026.
However, several brokerages said second-quarter results fell short of expectations. Morgan Stanley estimated that second-quarter sales averaged about RMB 1.2 billion per month, only 40% of the March 2026 level, with net profit between RMB 600 million and RMB 700 million, below market forecasts. Goldman Sachs cut its 2026-2028 net profit forecasts by 14% to 15%, lowering the target price from HKD 650 to HKD 560. Its tracking data showed that Laopu Gold's Tmall flagship store sales in the second quarter plunged 63% year-on-year, reversing the 155% growth in the first quarter. Citigroup noted that second-quarter net profit was about 30% below its and market expectations, warning that weakness was driven by its two main sales channels, SKP and Tmall, which previously contributed about 30% of sales but now account for only 20%, a decline not fully offset by new large stores opened in the second half of 2025.
Once dubbed one of the "three golden flowers" of Hong Kong stocks, Laopu Gold's share price has fallen over 60% from its mid-2025 peak, closing at HKD 362 on August 11, with a market capitalization of approximately HKD 64 billion, representing a loss of over HKD 120 billion from its high.
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