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Hong Kong customs probes Opatra London over alleged high-pressure sales
The complaints focus on transactions of up to HK$100,000, including claims that staff pursued the largest purchase in a single visit rather than repeat customers.
Hong Kong customs is expanding an investigation into UK-based luxury beauty chain Opatra London after complaints of high-pressure sales tactics, including allegations tied to purchases of up to HK$100,000, or about US$12,800.
The company, originally incorporated as Oro Gold, has said it is not connected to a local distributor, Sayles Retail, after allegations of “deceptive sales practices,” and it also denied links to another business called Orogold.
Former employees and customers interviewed by South China Morning Post said the sales playbook used by Opatra London and similar chains follows a familiar pattern, including staff targeting shoppers they believed were affluent and easier to influence.
One former junior employee at Orogold, Ms Chan, said she helped bring prospective buyers into the shop for senior staff pitches, and recalled that top representatives could earn six figures a month on exceptionally high commission rates, while she resigned after less than a year due to intense pressure. She described a script that started with offering an eye-cream sample near the entrance to demonstrate an immediate lifting effect, and recounted an elderly customer in her sixties who spent HK$600,000 after spending an afternoon in the store.
Latest closeGold $4,432.00 ▲1.6%