NEW YORK—There was something missing at the luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. in recent months: Chinese tourists.
For the second time in as many months, a big seller of high-end goods noticed that a particularly crucial demographic of its shopping base had made itself sparse, damaging sales and stoking fears of worse to come.
On Nov. 28, shares of Tiffany & Co. plunged 12 percent after reporting weaker-than-expected sales in its third quarter.
CEO Alessandro Bogliolo said that Chinese tourists have failed to show up, and open wallets up, with the same vigor that they had in the past.
Last month, the owner of Louis Vuitton noted the same phenomenon. Shares in that company were hit hard as well.
Tiffany is considered a bellwether for luxury goods, which is why shares of Ralph Lauren and Movado also fell on Wednesday, even as the broader stock market climbed sharply.
Tiffany’s third-quarter revenue rose 4 percent to just above $1 billion, yet industry analysts were anticipating a bigger boost. Part of the reason for the surprise was fewer tourists, particularly Chinese tourists, at stores in places like New York and Hong Kong.
“What we see is that Chinese tourists are traveling less,” said Bogliolo in a phone interview Wednesday. Tiffany’s business in mainland China remains strong, he said.
Bogliolo speculated that the deteriorating value of China’s currency is to blame.
The yuan, also known as the renminbi, or “people’s money,” sank to a 10-year low against the dollar at the end of October. It strengthened slightly this month, leading many to believe that Beijing has stepped in to stop its slide.
