Laopu Gold is not Hermès yet.

Author | Xie Yunzi

Editor |  Zhang Fan

Laopu Gold disclosed two sets of financial report data that made its peers "envious" on the same day.

Throughout 2025, Laopu Gold's sales performance reached 31.375 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 220.3%; its revenue was 27.303 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 221%. According to non - International Financial Reporting Standards, the company's adjusted net profit was 5.029 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 234.9%.

The company attributes the sharp increase in performance to three aspects: First, the continuous expansion of brand influence, forming an absolute market advantage; Second, the innovation and optimization of products. These two reasons have significantly increased the company's overall revenue both online and offline. Third is the increase in the number of stores.

In the previous year, Laopu Gold opened a total of 45 self - operated stores in 16 cities, including "overseas" stores in places such as Singapore and Hong Kong, China. Compared with 2024, the 10 new stores and the 9 optimized and expanded stores last year contributed to the group's revenue growth.

Based on last year's offline store sales performance of 25.793 billion yuan, the average annual sales of Laopu Gold's stores exceeded 500 million yuan.

The financial report also cited data from Frost & Sullivan. Among global luxury brands, Laopu Gold ranks second in revenue in the Chinese mainland, and first in terms of store efficiency and space efficiency per mall.

In addition, among consumer groups, the overlap rate of the company with five major luxury brands such as LV, Hermès, and Cartier increased from 77.3% in July last year to 82.4% in March this year.

Laopu Gold's annual revenue, unit (billion yuan); Charted by 36Kr based on financial report data

Shortly after the release of the 2025 financial report, Laopu Gold quickly announced its performance forecast for the first quarter, expecting to achieve sales performance (tax - inclusive revenue) of about 19 to 20 billion yuan, revenue of 16.5 to 17.5 billion yuan, and net profit of about 3.6 to 3.8 billion yuan. This is nearly 60% of the performance for the whole year of 2025.

These performance data seem to prove that while the three major luxury brands are facing different degrees of pressure, Laopu Gold has achieved a "corner overtaking" among the "young people". The "old money" from Europe has also clearly noticed this emerging jewelry brand from China.

Morgan Stanley once pointed out in a research report on Richemont Group that the competitive threat of Chinese high - end luxury brand Laopu Gold to Cartier is expanding.

At the financial report meeting in May last year, Richemont Group CEO Nicolas Bos also affirmed the market value of Laopu Gold, saying that it "drives the desire and vitality of the jewelry market". Soon after, Bernard Arnault, the big boss of LVMH, also specially visited the Laopu Gold store in Shanghai IFC when he was on a store tour in China, and commented that it was "exquisite and interesting".

The question is, can Laopu Gold really be on an equal footing with these international luxury brands?

I'm afraid the answer is: far from it.

Tear open the gap in "consumer mindset"

The success of Laopu Gold is essentially an escape from its "original family".

In the past, the price of gold jewelry was almost locked by raw materials, and product pricing often followed the simple logic of "gold price + processing fee". This has also led to a hard - to - cure problem in the industry. In the years when the international gold price soared year after year, brand premium could hardly support the increase in raw material and labor costs.

However, when the gold price exceeds a certain threshold, the logic of "buying on the rise and not on the fall" fails, and consumers will generally be in a wait - and - see attitude.

Reflected in objective data, since 2023, under the influence of factors such as continuous gold purchases by global central banks, the escalation of geopolitical risks, and the strengthening of the Fed's interest rate cut expectations, the international gold price has continued to rise. There was even an "epic market" in 2025, rising from $2,646 per ounce at the beginning of the year to nearly $4,500 per ounce at the end of the year.

The soaring gold price year after year has led to a differentiation among gold jewelry brands. Traditional gold jewelry brands represented by Chow Tai Fook and Chow Tai Seng, which "heavily rely on weight - based sales", have seen a decline in revenue.

The financial report shows that in the fiscal year 2024, Chow Tai Fook's revenue reached HK$107.86 billion, a year - on - year increase of 2.7%. Compared with the previous year, the year - on - year growth rate slowed down; the net profit attributable to the parent company also decreased by 4% year - on - year. Chow Tai Fook explained that the main reason was the suppression of high gold prices and store optimization. During the same period, brands such as Chow Sang Sang, Chow Tai Seng, and Chao Hongji also experienced a certain degree of revenue decline, mainly due to the "impact of market consumption sentiment".

Tabulated by 36Kr based on financial reports. Net profit refers to the net profit attributable to the parent company.

London gold spot price trend, US dollars per ounce; Image captured from Wind

It was also during this period that Laopu Gold expanded rapidly. Boosted by star capitals such as Black Ant Capital and Tencent Investment, in June 2024, this emerging brand focusing on "Chinese imperial ancient - style gold craftsmanship" was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Relying on its "super - strong brand storytelling ability", "high space efficiency per store", and the "hedging ability of gold jewelry", it quickly became one of the "Three Sisters of Hong Kong Stock Consumption".

To simply summarize the business model, Laopu Gold integrates intangible cultural heritage crafts such as "filigree inlay" and "engraving" with Chinese traditional culture. A person inside Laopu once told 36Kr that the company has "no upper limit" on the craftsmanship requirements for its products. All these have resulted in that although ancient - style gold is not something new, Laopu has still given new value anchors to traditional gold jewelry.

In terms of pricing, Laopu uses the method of "fixed price + irregular price increases" to try to break free from the shackles of gold cost price fluctuations.

In 2025, it adjusted prices three times in February, August, and October, with a cumulative increase of nearly 45%. In February 2026, Laopu Gold launched a new round of price increases, with a single - product increase of more than 20%.

According to 36Kr's estimation, the weight - based price of many of Laopu Gold's products after the price adjustment has exceeded 2,500 yuan per gram, which is much higher than the "highest price" of 1,149 yuan per gram on the Shanghai Gold Exchange in February this year. During the same period, the gold prices of traditional brands such as Chow Tai Fook and Chow Tai Seng were generally around 1,500 yuan per gram.

In addition, in terms of product structure, Laopu is also intentionally reducing the proportion of "pure gold" products and continuously increasing the revenue proportion of "full - gold inlaid products".

From the currently available data, in 2019, full - gold products of Laopu Gold contributed 52.1% of the sales. By the first half of 2024, the proportion of full - gold products was 39%, and the proportion of full - gold inlaid products was 61%.

Images from Laopu Gold's WeChat official account and Tmall flagship store

Laopu Gold's intention for this adjustment is very clear. The gross profit margin of inlaid products is higher, almost stably in the range of 45% - 47%, 7 to 9 percentage points higher than that of ordinary full - gold products. From the perspective of market strategy, Laopu also hopes that the brilliance of diamonds, colored gemstones, and the craftsmanship itself can overshadow that of gold. While stably improving the company's overall profitability, it also makes the brand's tone more inclined to "jewelry" rather than "gold jewelry".

At the same time, Laopu Gold adopts a direct - operation model. It values offline store services more than online channels, and most of its store locations are adjacent to luxury brands. The latest news is that Laopu is recruiting flight attendants at high salaries, hoping to introduce "five - star service" into its stores.

Due to many reasons, Laopu has "turned the tables" in the past two years. It has successfully torn open a cognitive gap in consumers' minds, making people start to accept that "gold can also have a high brand premium". When the gold price has been rising year after year and is even close to the "fixed price" level, Laopu Gold's products also show an interesting "risk - hedging" ability.

However, when the gold price starts to decline, people's consumption mentality has changed.

Gold price, SVIP, and brand power

In March 2026, the gold price experienced a "cliff - like" decline.

One day before Laopu announced its 2026 financial report, the international gold price continuously broke through support levels, with a single - day decline of more than 8%, and once dropped to $4,098.25 per ounce. Throughout March, the international gold price also fell by more than 15.27% cumulatively, almost erasing the increase for the whole year.

This has created a thorny problem that Laopu Gold has to face - the pressure on gross profit margin caused by gold price fluctuations.

Laopu's procurement model is different from that of traditional gold stores.

As a member of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, Chow Tai Fook can directly participate in the gold spot trading and use financial operations such as hedging to ease the fluctuations in the gold price. Laopu Gold is not a member of the Shanghai Gold Exchange and mainly purchases raw materials through the intermediate supplier "Beijing Gongmei Group", which in turn pushes up the cost of raw materials.

Due to factors such as cost procurement and full direct - operation, Laopu Gold's gross profit margin has always been around 40%, only 10% higher than that of traditional gold stores. Even when the gold price was adjusted upwards in 2025, Laopu set a new low in gross profit margin in five years at 37.6%.

The company explained that after the third price adjustment in October 2025, the gross profit margin has returned to over 40%. However, considering Laopu Gold's models such as "high inventory" and "refusing to hedge", the fixed - price products with high raw material costs sold when the gold price is falling will still affect the profit performance in a certain period.

Gross profit margin performance of luxury and gold jewelry brands, tabulated by 36Kr based on Wind; Hermès, Richemont, and Kering are for fiscal years

A research report from Citibank also pointed out that Laopu Gold purchased a batch of gold raw materials at the high point of the gold price in November 2025 for the production of products sold at the end of 2025 and in the first quarter of 2026. Considering the gold price fluctuations, the gold jewelry sold during the Spring Festival may have lost 4% of the profit.

Of course, as the company's senior management said, if the cost of newly purchased gold decreases, it will also lower the overall weighted average cost for the whole year, and the company's inventory impairment risk is limited. The financial report shows that as of the end of last year, Laopu Gold's inventory was 16.044 billion yuan, a significant increase of 347.6% compared with 2024, due to the company's prediction of future sales growth. In the first quarter of 2026, Laopu Gold has consumed part of its inventory.

An indisputable fact is that the decline in the gold price will further affect the prosperity of consumers' gold jewelry purchases. In economic terms, Laopu still has a certain "menu cost" - that is, due to the influence of the macro - environment, costs hinder the company's price adjustment, and product prices are also difficult to change quickly with market supply and demand.

In response, Laopu Gold said that when consumption declines, the company will establish a new payment relationship between consumers and the brand on the basis of product power, brand power, channel power, and customer service power to ensure normal sales performance.

At the performance meeting, the management also emphasized that Laopu Gold has always put products first and uses products to find customer groups.

"The company's customer group is large in general. There is a high - proportion high - net - worth customer group, and there is also a customer group that values cost - performance very much. Only those who care too much about cost - performance are absent. Cost - performance is not an attribute of high - end brands. High - end brands more often form cultural premiums, craftsmanship premiums, and aesthetic premiums."

The 2025 financial report shows that the number of Laopu Gold's members increased by 74.3% year - on - year to 610,000. Some media have reported that some high - net - worth customers of Laopu Gold will consume and settle accounts through non - mall channels in the "private room" of the store. This means that it is difficult for the outside world to estimate the number of Laopu's SVIPs.

In addition, in the second - hand market, which can best "judge" brand value, the recycling price of Laopu Gold is generally 50% - 70% of the original price. Although the recycling