L’Occitane China sales soar

L’Occitane Hong Kong and Macau sales are still falling, but in the mainland they soared 20.4 per cent in the last six months.

Unveiling its results for the half year to September 30, L’Occitane said worldwide sales rose 12.5 per cent to US$546.7 million. In local currency, sales rose 5.8 per cent.

But in Hong Kong, the retail operation remained impacted by the weak market sentiment and a drop in Mainland Chinese tourists.

“During the second quarter, Hong Kong travel retail sell-through was sluggish due to the lagging effects of Mers in Korea and a drastic drop in traffic in Hong Kong and Macau,” the company said in its filing.

China was the fastest growing country with 20.4 per cent growth in local currency, mainly contributed by new stores opened last year and in the first half of this year. Sales via T-mall also contributed to the sell-out growth in China.

Japan, its third fastest growing market behind France,  posted a sales growth of 8.2 per cent at constant exchange rates with same store sales growth at 6.9 per cent.