In the "ancient method gold" sector, a wave of new brands is emerging rapidly alongside LAOPU GOLD. A review of public information reveals that, as of early April, numerous ancient method gold brands have set up shop in various shopping malls across the country. These include brands such as Junpei, Baolan, Linchao, Baowangfu, Duobaoge Gold Shop, Jingjiang Gold, Yutai Gold, Dunhuang Gold, and Lao Wannian.
High-end shopping malls or commercial districts in first and second-tier cities are the most proactive landlords in introducing ancient method gold brands. A prime example is Nanjing's Deji Plaza, which, despite already housing no fewer than five ancient method gold brands including LAOPU GOLD and Junpei, has recently welcomed three more. Additionally, locations like Beijing's China World Trade Center, Shanghai IFC, Shanghai Yuyuan, and Hangzhou Tower are also expanding their portfolios of ancient method gold brands.
These upcoming new stores, together with those opened in recent years, are gradually forming a competitive encirclement around LAOPU GOLD.
Statistics show that, as of early April, LAOPU GOLD has established a presence in 32 shopping malls in mainland China. Of these, at least 19 malls have also introduced other ancient method gold brands.
This trend is a result of mutual interest between shopping malls and the brands. According to Du Bin, Chairman of Hambor Commercial Management's Shanghai branch, high-average-transaction gold brands have always been tenants that contribute significantly to rental income. With traditional gold stores currently experiencing sluggish business, ancient method gold, as one of the few high-growth categories in offline retail, is naturally favored by shopping malls. Consequently, even lesser-known new brands have an opportunity to enter high-end malls if they possess unique characteristics and can ensure stable operations.
For ancient method gold brands aiming for a premium positioning, only high-end shopping malls can match their aspirations. Given the limited number of strategically valuable malls, clustering is inevitable.
Furthermore, locating stores near leading brands may be a deliberate strategy for some newcomers. For instance, among the 12 stores opened or planned by Junpei, a prominent new player, nine are in malls where LAOPU GOLD already operates. Similarly, all five malls where Baolan has established a presence have also introduced both LAOPU GOLD and Junpei.
The scenario of ancient method gold brands competing in the same venues is likely to become more common, particularly in the East China market.
Baowangfu, a brand from Qingdao, Shandong, plans to open five to eight new stores by 2026, focusing on luxury malls in first-tier cities that align with its brand positioning. After accelerating its expansion over the past year, Baowangfu currently operates seven stores, with an additional new location planned at Shanghai's iAPM Mall.
Qingtai Gold stated that 2026 will mark the beginning of its accelerated expansion phase. Following its debut store at Deji Plaza, a second store is set to open in June at Deji Shike in Nanjing's Hexi district. After establishing a strong foothold in Nanjing, Qingtai Gold plans to expand to key cities in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai region by the end of 2026, with potential locations including Hangzhou MixC or Hangzhou Tower.
"The Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai area itself is a mature market for traditional culture consumption, aesthetic consumption, and gift-giving, providing fertile ground for brands," Qingtai Gold noted.
It is also worth mentioning that Gongxi Huanghou, which originated in Xiamen, Fujian, stated on its website in 2025 that it plans to establish a presence in high-end luxury malls across the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai region within the next five years.
In the face of this wave of new entrants, LAOPU GOLD appears composed. Public statements indicate that the company is not rushing to expand its store count. According to a research report from China Securities, LAOPU GOLD's focus for 2026 in the domestic market will be on optimizing existing stores, with plans to refine eight to twelve locations throughout the year.
Additionally, multiple broker reports highlight that LAOPU GOLD's 2026 priorities also include strengthening high-value customer management and increasing the proportion of high-weight gold items. A recent move to recruit talent from the airline industry at premium salaries serves as evidence of this strategy.
It is difficult to attribute these actions solely to increased competition, as LAOPU GOLD would likely pursue them regardless of new market entrants. The company's long-term goal has been to establish gold as a luxury product, ensuring that consumers recognize its value not just based on raw material costs but also on brand, cultural, and aesthetic appeal, thereby justifying a higher premium. In essence, the aim is to differentiate from competitors like Chow Tai Seng and Lao Feng Xiang and align more closely with global luxury houses such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.
This explains why LAOPU GOLD positions its main competitors as global luxury conglomerates rather than traditional gold retail chains.
In 2025, LAOPU GOLD achieved an average sales volume of nearly 1 billion yuan per mall, with annual sales surpassing 30 billion yuan and post-tax revenue reaching 27.3 billion yuan. According to data from Frost & Sullivan cited by the company, LAOPU GOLD's store efficiency and sales per square meter in mainland China for 2025 exceeded those of global luxury groups—a benchmark that emerging ancient method gold brands will find challenging to match.
LAOPU GOLD does not publicly disclose earnings call details, but based on multiple social media records, founder and Chairman Xu Gaoming stated during an earnings meeting that the company has no real competitors, asserting that imitation cannot lead to superiority and that attempting to mimic the high-end market is "equivalent to seeking failure."
Objectively, the current influx of ancient method gold brands does exhibit a degree of homogeneity, with varying levels of quality. Several brands have acknowledged that the market's popularity has led to instances where "marketing outweighs substance," noting that few brands are genuinely committed to craftsmanship, content, and brand core development.
While product similarities are somewhat inevitable due to the niche nature of ancient method gold, which defines specific craftsmanship and design styles, similarities in pricing models, store locations and decor, service experiences, and brand marketing clearly reflect LAOPU GOLD's influence on the industry.
In theory, the original brand can solidify its authoritative status among imitators. However, dismissing these newcomers merely as copycats may be an underestimation.
A closer look reveals that many of the expanding ancient method gold brands are not recent entrants; some have been specializing in this field for years, often with backgrounds in supply chains or artisan heritage.
For example, Linchao, based in Lanzhou, was founded three years earlier than LAOPU GOLD and emphasizes极致 craftsmanship and original design as its core competitiveness, generating significant discussion on social media. Baowangfu, established in 2012, was also an early adopter of ancient method gold and has since created a training base for intangible cultural heritage inheritors to preserve artisan skills.
Qingtai Gold is a self-owned brand under Jiangsu Zhongjin, a distributor of China Gold in Jiangsu, leveraging mature channel resources, supply chain foundations, and retail experience. The company recently secured the general agency rights for Jing Gong Mei Zuo, an ancient method gold brand under Beijing Gongmei Group, in Jiangsu province. Duobaoge Gold Shop is backed by Zhongjin Guoli Group, which owns Mingfeng Jewelry, a supplier covering over 80% of China's jewelry retail market.
Yutai Gold and Lao Wannian emphasize artisan credentials. The former's controlling shareholder, Wu Qingru, is reportedly a descendant of a Qing dynasty royal artisan family and collaborates with the team of master craftsman Wang Shuwen. The latter's shareholder, Qi Chunlan, comes from a family of artisans and is the seventh-generation inheritor of fine gold and silver craftsmanship, specializing in "Suzhou-style gold."
Even setting aside their backgrounds, these brands generally demonstrate an awareness of the need for differentiation. For instance, Linchao and Gongting Zhizao focus on artisan handcrafting, maintaining a "small but beautiful" exclusivity. Gongxi Huanghou emphasizes "imperial jewelry" with designs catering to feminine aesthetics. Dunhuang Gold is authorized by the China Dunhuang Grottoes Protection Research Foundation to use Dunhuang elements in its designs. Qingtai Gold emphasizes that it does not treat traditional Chinese culture as a marketing gimmick but is genuinely committed to its "inheritance, transformation, and contemporary expression," with future plans to explore integrating Nanjing's local culture, such as intangible heritage elements like Nanjing Yunjin brocade, into its gold products.
As these brands' unique backgrounds and characteristics gain market recognition, LAOPU GOLD's distinctiveness and first-mover advantage risk being diluted.
Zhu Yanrui, Chief Industry Advisor at Euromonitor China, believes that this impact is relatively limited in the short term but will intensify over time as craftsmanship improves and brand awareness grows. "Market dynamics suggest that a maturing sector cannot be dominated by a single brand indefinitely. The ancient method gold market may eventually evolve into a landscape characterized by 'leading brand concentration alongside diverse players,'" Zhu stated.
Moreover, the proliferation of new brands not only intensifies competition but could also impede the luxury positioning efforts of leading brands like LAOPU GOLD.
Specifically, not all high-end ancient method gold brands aim for luxury status, and the luxury market likely lacks the capacity to accommodate all of them. Indeed, some brands are already trending toward the mass market. For instance, Wenbo Gold, which opened its first store at Shenzhen Bay MixC, chose a second location at Shenzhen Qianhai YFC, a non-luxury mall with the city's third-highest sales volume. Brands like Junpei and Yutai Gold have begun live streaming e-commerce, while Jingjiang Gold, like Junpei in its early days, markets influencer collaborations—a tactic luxury brands focused on exclusivity typically avoid.
For most ancient method gold brands, a more rational approach may involve cautious pricing during gold price declines, maintaining reasonable premiums. Chow Tai Seng's recent decision to postpone price increases for fixed-price products in late March serves as an example.
As consumers gain access to more cost-effective alternatives, LAOPU GOLD, which maintains a policy of adjusting prices two to three times annually regardless of gold price trends, faces increased pressure. This will test whether the brand holds irreplaceable value in consumers' minds.
Although decoupling product value from gold prices is part of LAOPU GOLD's strategy, market acceptance remains uncertain. Zhu Yanrui noted that the rise of ancient method gold is indeed driving a shift from gold as an "investment" toward "jewelry and consumer goods," but this transition will be long and gradual. Chinese consumers' deep-rooted perception of gold as a store of value makes it difficult to completely detach from gold price fluctuations in the short term.
Discussions on social media show that many consumers still calculate the price per gram when purchasing fixed-price gold jewelry to compare value across brands. During recent periods of gold price volatility, a significant number of consumers expressed expectations for price reductions from LAOPU GOLD and other ancient method gold brands.
While regular price adjustments may help LAOPU GOLD differentiate itself and retain high-net-worth clients who value exclusivity and accept higher premiums, this customer screening process could involve growing pains. Additionally, pressure from capital markets will test the company's strategic resolve.
"Under current economic and consumer conditions, the performance of luxury brands indicates that relying solely on brand溢价 to sustain growth presents challenges," Zhu Yanrui concluded.
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