Chow Tai Fook plays catch-up as it ventures into e-commerce

Hong Kong

THE Chow Tai Fook brand took almost 90 years to become a family empire spanning Hong Kong shopping centres, the world's largest jewellery chain and casinos to give patriarch Cheng Yu-tung a US$10 billion net worth. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's founder Jack Ma needed less than five years to amass an e-commerce fortune almost triple that.

Now, the Cheng family's holding company is making a move to chase Alibaba and other Internet retailers by expanding its online presence. It invested 350 million yuan (S$73.6 million) in shopping platform CTFHOKO.com in December and a mall to showcase products sold online. Its website offers genuine imports such as infant formula, diapers and cosmetics at prices at least 10 per cent cheaper than shops in mainland China and is aimed at consumers wary of counterfeit goods online.