Old Shop Gold's New Year Price Adjustment Sparks Buying Frenzy: Popular Models Increase by Over 30%, Resale Orders with Price Markups Frequently Occur on Site

Recently, Laopu Gold announced its first price adjustment of the year, which is rumored to be the largest in its history, attracting widespread market attention. Amid the ongoing upward fluctuation of gold prices, Laopu Gold’s price adjustment has ignited consumer enthusiasm for purchasing gold, with queues forming at many stores and online stock selling out rapidly.

It is understood that the last price adjustment by Laopu Gold was in late October 2025, when spot gold prices hovered around $4,000 per ounce. Now, gold has surpassed the $5,200 mark again. In this adjustment, most of Laopu Gold’s main products increased by 20% to 30%, with some exceeding this range, significantly increasing the usual markup. For example, the popular Rose Window Gem Pendant (13.6 grams) was priced at 39,930 yuan after the adjustment, with a difference of 8,250 yuan, a rise of about 26%; the Seven Sons Gourd Pendant Enamel Red (30.6 grams) now sells for 73,800 yuan, with a difference of 17,480 yuan, an increase of about 31%.

The day before the price adjustment, reporters visited several Laopu Gold stores in Shanghai and found that the wait time to enter was generally over 2 or 3 hours. Many stores implemented flow restrictions around 7 or 8 p.m., stopping the queue, yet they still extended closing times, and many styles were already sold out. This queuing phenomenon has persisted for several days. During the Spring Festival, Laopu Gold launched a promotion offering 100 yuan off for every 1,000 yuan spent, further stimulating consumer gold-buying enthusiasm amid the price hike expectations. To cope with the rush, many stores set purchase limits, such as a maximum of 5 pieces of jewelry per transaction, a limit of 2 pieces for the same style, and a 30-minute shopping experience per customer. However, these measures did not deter gold buyers.

On social media platforms, netizens shared their shopping experiences. Some said they spent 12 hours in malls, with parking fees capped; others bought tickets costing 80 yuan to visit the store’s scenic area, only to find nearly 300 people ahead in line. The reporter observed that many in line were out-of-town visitors, some bringing small stools. During the wait, many kept refreshing Laopu Gold’s online store, occasionally snagging a deal. As online discounts rolled out, Laopu Gold’s online stock sold out quickly, with even items like a 300,000+ yuan gold toad and a 500,000+ yuan gold mandarin duck figurine being snapped up rapidly.

At the queue, discussions centered around topics like old-for-new exchanges with weight discrepancies, gold investment, Laopu’s previous pricing and styles, how to grab online restocks, and which products have the lowest price per gram. The atmosphere was “buy now, profit later,” with some consumers saying they would buy several styles regardless of what remained; some even marked up their online orders for resale, with markups generally around 200 to over 1,000 yuan, while others sold at face value just to earn points or exchange for jewelry boxes. Within the Laopu Gold circle, there’s a concept of “graduation” or “phase graduation,” meaning reaching a certain points or spending threshold, buying all desired styles, or accumulating a large number of figurines. The night before the price hike, some consumers said they only recently “got into” Laopu Gold during this Spring Festival, having spent nearly a million yuan so far. During the holidays, couples almost daily queued up, bought gold, and even received warnings about potential fraud risks due to excessive purchases.

Driven by consumer enthusiasm, Laopu Gold’s performance has surged. Two days before the price adjustment, Laopu Gold launched a major online promotion. The moment the sale started, its Tmall flagship store’s transaction volume exceeded 300 million yuan within one second, with the entire day’s single-store sales surpassing 1 billion yuan, achieving a hundredfold year-over-year growth. Data shows that Laopu Gold’s Beijing SKP store nearly accounts for one-seventh of the mall’s annual total sales. SKP in Beijing hosts many top luxury brands worldwide, and Laopu Gold’s standout performance reflects changing luxury consumption patterns. The 2025 semi-annual report shows that Laopu Gold’s customer overlap with luxury giants like Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Cartier, and Bvlgari is as high as 77.3%. All its stores are located in high-end shopping districts like SKP and MixC, ranking first in China’s mainland for average revenue and sales per square meter, indicating that this domestic gold brand is approaching the level of international luxury brands. In September 2025, Louis Vuitton CEO Bernard Arnault personally visited Laopu Gold’s store during his trip to China.

However, Laopu Gold still has a way to go before becoming a true luxury brand. On one hand, despite multiple price hikes annually, discounts are still common, and after breaking into the luxury circle, product scarcity is affected. On the other hand, second-hand market trends also influence its value, as the resale logic differs from traditional luxury brands. Yet, luxury capital has taken notice of the ancient craft gold track. By the end of 2025, two gold brands, Linchao Jewelry and Baolan, completed funding rounds exceeding one billion yuan, with Baolan’s investors including Gucci’s parent company Kering and Lei Jun’s Shunwei Capital. Including earlier entrants like Laopu Gold and Junpei, a “Four Sisters of Ancient Craft Gold” track has begun to form, and all four brands have announced their first price adjustments of the year. These products are priced far above ordinary gold jewelry, capable of carrying aesthetic design, craftsmanship, and brand connotations. Some investors note that China’s gold market is shifting from a model driven by franchise and product homogeneity to a new stage driven by culture, design, and originality. However, challenges remain, as the craftsmanship of ancient craft gold is not difficult to replicate, and designs similar to Laopu Gold’s are appearing on many brands’ shelves. How to break free from the correlation with international gold prices is also a key issue Laopu Gold needs to address.