Budget retailer Miniso eyes maximum impact from flagship brand store in Hong Kong after record results in 2023

Hong Kong has always been an international shopping paradise, benefiting from strong consumption power, so there are still big opportunities in the market, chief marketing officer Robin Liu said in an interview.

“We are also using various types of online content to enhance the awareness and influence of our brands and products among young consumers in Hong Kong,” Liu said. “We hope to further strengthen our brand presence in Hong Kong.”

Liu said Miniso decided on Tsim Sha Tsui, a core business district, because the location will attract significant footfall. The huge flow of visitors “can bring more opportunities and more exposure”, he said.

“Miniso itself is an enterprise rooted in the Greater Bay Area, where enhanced integration within the region releases consumption power. We will also pay more attention to the Hong Kong market to enhance the influence of our brand,” he said.

Based in Guangzhou in southern Guangdong province, Miniso will also be looking to open an even bigger store in a yet-to-be-decided location, that will help provide a better shopping experience, he added.

Miniso earnings jump 49% in ‘best quarter’ amid rapid China store expansion

Currently, Miniso has stores on the Hong Kong Island, and in Kowloon and the New Territories. It plans to operate 100 shops in Hong Kong over the next few years, Liu added, without specifying the time frame.

The retailer reported its best quarter on record in November as new stores helped underpin a surge in sales and profitability. The retailer has been placing greater emphasis on cost-effectiveness to bring affordable products to the mass market, Liu said.

Despite a soft recovery in the mainland’s economy and retail market, Miniso’s performance is holding up well, he added. Turnover has recovered to nearly 100 per cent of the level in 2021, as daily necessity products provided countercyclical resilience.

The budget retailer added 324 stores in the third quarter of last year to expand its network to 6,115 as of September 30, versus 819 stores a year ago. It opened 477 stores in mainland China in the first nine months of 2023, surpassing its target.

This year, Miniso aims to open 350 to 450 new stores per quarter in overseas markets.

“We see higher overall revenue growth in overseas markets than the domestic market,” Liu said. In the most-recent quarter, revenue in offshore markets accounted for more than one-third of the total, and “this is expected to increase in the future.”