Sasha plans to return to Hong Kong's Mong District to open new stores The mainland business is still losing money

Photo: Photo by Sasha International Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Guo Shaoming (right) and Vice Chairman Guo LuoGuizhen Ta Kung Pao reporter Li Jieyi

According to Hong Kong's Ta Kung Pao, although the number of tourists visiting Hong Kong has decreased, there is still a certain amount of spending power in Hong Kong. Guo Shaoming, chairman and chief executive of the makeup and skincare sales chain Sasha International, said that the decline in same-store sales in recent months has narrowed, and there is no sign of downward trend in the retail market. He said bluntly that under the calm of the retail market, now is the time to "grab the shop" and intend to return to the Wang District to open new stores.

Sasha International announced that in the first half of the fiscal year (April to September), the profit was about HK$96 million (HK$, the same below), down 37% year-on-year, and the gross profit margin fell by 1.7 percentage points to only 41.2%.

Total turnover in the first half of the year recorded 3.628 billion yuan, a decrease of 4% year-on-year. Among them, sales in Hong Kong and Macau fell by 4% to MOP2,937 million, and although the number of transactions rose by 2.3% to 9.1 million, the average amount of each transaction fell by 5.7% to MOP321, reflecting the shift in consumption patterns to more affordable products.

Christmas sales are expected to be flat with last year

Guo Shaoming said that same-store sales fell by 4.8% from the first fiscal quarter (April to June) to narrow to 2.5% in the second quarter (July to September), and to enter the third fiscal quarter (October to December) sales tended to be stable, expecting the retail market to bottom.

For the performance of the Christmas consumption season, Guo Shaoming hopes that under the adjustment of the product mix to cater to the market, this year's Christmas sales will be the same as last year, but bluntly said that "there is an increase in bad expectations", after all, the number of mainland visitors to Hong Kong is still decreasing.

Guo Shaoming mentioned that in the past peak period, the highest consumption unit price of mainland customers averaged 700 yuan, accounting for 70% of the overall sales, although the average transaction volume of local customers was only 280 yuan, but taking the number of transactions as an example, local customers were still higher than mainland customers.

As for shop rents, Kai Lu, Chief Financial Officer of Salsa International, said that the operating costs of shops have continued to decline, including in Hong Kong, and the renewal of rents in tourist areas has been particularly significant, with individual rent reductions of 40% to 50%. Guo Shaoming believes that the current shop rent is downward, just looking for the "beautiful shop" in the location of Wang District, and will also pay attention to the local customer market, continue to open stores in Minsheng District, and have opened 3 to 4 stores in Minsheng District in the first half of the fiscal year.

In addition, Sasha's Chinese mainland business still recorded a loss, with a loss of 13.7 million yuan in the first half of the fiscal year, but the loss has narrowed. Guo Shaoming said that at present, the most important thing is to increase the business volume of mainland stores and speed up the opening of stores, so as to reduce the overall operating costs and pave the way for a turnaround.