Gap opened two stores simultaneously at Macau's Venetian and Parisian malls on Sept 28, its first entry into the Macau market; the brand has opened 16 new stores in September alone, with the other 14 in Shanghai, Nanjing, Chongqing, Fuzhou and elsewhere. Meanwhile LVMH's makeup brand MAKE UP FOREVER announced its Hong Kong online store will cease operations after Sept 30, funneling e-commerce to group-owned Sephora, while several Hong Kong physical stores launched heavy promotions.
One opens, one closes — together they sketch foreign brands' current China playbook: mass-market apparel expands into lower-tier cities and tourism complexes, while specialty beauty shrinks low-efficiency channels in favor of group platforms. The lesson for overseas brands: entering China is no longer a single yes/no question — your channel mix and regional choices now decide success more than the entry decision itself.