Hong Kong-based cosmetic giant Sasa has reportedly announced plans to return to Singapore, where it had shut down all its twenty-two shops three years ago. The brand is targeting just a few new stores in 2023 in its homeland. Company officials have expressed doubts whether business in the city will return to its pre-pandemic levels when Hong Kong was a shopping hub.

Hong Kong is slowly recovering from the financial setback caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm’s Chief Financial Officer, Danny Ho has expressed his belief that sales could take until 2026 to return to their levels pre-pandemic. 

Tourists’ contribution to the revenue might also decline to 60 per cent from the previous 70 per cent. During the financial year 2019-2020, the Sasa stores in Singapore failed to make profits and were subsequently closed down. The company is now taking cautious steps to restart in the country, with one or two new store openings planned in 2023. Sasa is also planning to open more stores in Malaysia adding to its seventy-one existing shops, in anticipation of a potential tourism boost post-COVID-19, which may help elevate sales past the 2019 levels.

Ho also shared that the company is not expecting to bounce back to previous heights and maintains a conservative view of how many tourists may return. In mainland China, Sasa has thirty-eight stores, after the closure of half its network during the COVID-19. The firm is focusing on making profits at these locations and may consider potential expansions in the second half of the year, he added.

Sasa is planning to open five to seven stores in Hong Kong and Macau in 2023. The company’s network in these regions shrank substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic, after mainland China’s zero-COVID policy restricted the influx of tourists. In February 2023, Hong Kong reported 1.5 million tourist visits, indicating a 74 percent decrease from 2019. The casino hub of Macau, meanwhile, reported 1.6 million visits in the same month, which is 55 percent less than 2019 levels.

Source credit: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/cosmetics-chain-sasa-to-return-to-singapore-plans-cautious-revival-in-hong-kong