China’s largest jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. has appointed an executive from LVMH’s fashion brand Loewe to lead a global expansion and boost its appeal to luxury shoppers.

Gabriela Ferreira, who served as general manager for Southeast Asia and Oceania at Loewe, will be in charge of Chow Tai Fook’s push further into Southeast Asia and other markets, the company said in a statement Wednesday. She will focus on enhancing brand desirability and oversee the jeweller’s product mix and sales channels in the region and internationally, it said.

The appointment comes as Chow Tai Fook, a flagship company of Hong Kong billionaire Henry Cheng’s family empire, has revamped its logo and is renovating some 8,000 of its stores in a bid to restyle itself from a traditional gold jewellery retailer into a luxury accessories brand.

The group, which has seen its shares plunge 47 percent this year, is facing increasing challenges from surging gold prices that have curbed demand for its main revenue-generating gold products and squeezed profit margins. A consumer spending slump in China, its biggest market, is further weighing on sales.

An upgraded image could help the brand draw more wealthy shoppers whose spending power remains strong. Top luxury brands like Hermès International SCA and Chanel have remained resilient against the broader slowdown, largely thanks to their focus on cultivating high-net-worth customers. By diversifying into Southeast Asia, Chow Tai Fook also looks to capture the potential of some of the world’s fast-growing tourism and middle-class consumer markets.

The company will look to Ferreira to drive the expansion of its retail network in popular travel retail markets, according to the statement.

Co-led by Henry Cheng’s daughter Sonia Cheng, Chow Tai Fook is currently the largest listed company by market capitalisation in the family’s sprawling business empire. The spotlight on the family has grown in recent months after Henry Cheng, who remains Chow Tai Fook’s chairman, said he was still looking for a successor.

By Shirley Zhao

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