Tapestry expanding its footprint to more cities

Buoyed by China's resilient consumer demand, Tapestry Inc, a United States-based luxury goods company, plans to add over 60 new stores in China over the next three years, expanding its footprint from over 400 stores in 90 cities to more than 100 cities across top-tier to county-level markets, said a senior executive of the company.

Many of these opportunities stem from China's new "Shopping in China" initiative — part of the country's broader push to deepen opening-up and spur inbound consumption — alongside young consumers' rising appetite for self-expression and the expanded island-departure duty-free policy in the Hainan Free Trade Port.

Sandeep Seth, chief growth officer and president of Tapestry International, said the group's business in China grew 5 percent year-on-year in its 2025 fiscal year, and saw 19 percent increase on a yearly basis in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year — a strong indication of renewed momentum in the market.

China is already Tapestry's largest market outside the US and is expected to contribute the biggest share of the group's global expansion in the years ahead, he said.

Seth said Tapestry, the parent group of Coach and Kate Spade, sees "tremendous headroom" in China, driven by a rapidly expanding middle-income group and a sizeable cohort of young consumers entering university each year — a key stage when many female consumers purchase their first handbag.

"Around 5 million young Chinese women will turn 18 next year," he said. Yet Coach's penetration within this demographic is currently only about 0.2 percent, highlighting what he described as "massive room for category growth".

To seize these opportunities, the US company is sharply increasing investment in China. Its marketing spending in the country has risen more than fourfold over the past three to four years, and the company is adopting a "city-by-city" development strategy, replacing the traditional one-size-fits-all approach.

Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Commerce, together with other government organs, has organized the "Shopping in China" initiative as a signature campaign to promote consumption.

To date, many themed activities have been rolled out this year, including the international consumption season, the premium products launch season and the services consumption season.

The "Shopping in China" campaign is resonating well beyond the domestic market, emerging as a preferred experience for many international visitors, said Seth.

The strong policy push is reflected in China's improving retail indicators. China's retail sales of consumer goods grew by 4.3 percent year-on-year to 41.2 trillion yuan ($5.8 trillion) in the first 10 months of 2025, data from the National Bureau of Statistics show.

Eager to seize more market share, Tapestry is currently running deep-investment pilots in six Chinese cities, including Wuhan in Hubei province and Hefei in Anhui province — to test how increased spending can lift brand awareness and accelerate engagement with younger consumers.

The group is also evaluating opportunities across 200 Chinese cities, with plans to expand in both major cities and dynamic lower-tier markets.

As digital innovation has become a key factor for global businesses in China, Seth said Tapestry is working closely with Chinese technology companies to apply artificial intelligence-powered tools in consumer segmentation, content creation and media planning. The company is also scaling up the use of AI in demand forecasting and supply-chain management to improve efficiency and responsiveness in China's fast-moving market.

With Hainan FTP expanding its island-departure duty-free shopping policy on Nov 1 — bringing the offshore duty-free list to 47 product categories ranging from mini drones and portable musical instruments to handbags and tea — Tapestry said its Coach flagship store in Sanya has already seen stronger tourist traffic and broader purchasing demand under the upgraded policy.

"With China's strong consumption fundamentals and policy support, we are fully committed to long-term investment here," said Seth, adding China will remain one of the biggest growth engines for Tapestry globally.

John Quelch, executive vice-chancellor and a professor of social science at Duke Kunshan University, said that China has an opportunity to redefine what modern consumption means.

zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn