Retail Sales Survey for the 3rd Quarter 2020

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that value of retail sales for the third quarter of 2020 totalled MOP8.92 billion, down by 50.7% year-on-year but up by 29.4% quarter-to-quarter. After removing the effect of price changes, the sales volume index decreased by 50.1% year-on-year.

Among the major retail trade activities, sales values of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (-70.0%), Adults’ Clothing (-65.4%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (-62.0%) registered substantial year-on-year declines. In terms of volume of retail sales, sales volume indices of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (-72.5%), Adults’ Clothing (-62.3%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (-61.2%) decreased year-on-year. For the first three quarters of 2020, value of retail sales dropped by 52.2% year-on-year to MOP26.99 billion, and the sales volume index fell by 51.9%.

Value of retail sales in the third quarter of 2020 increased by 29.4% as compared with the revised figure (MOP6.90 billion) in the second quarter, with sales values of Chinese Food Products (+142.4%) and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+135.8%) recording significant increases. In addition, sales values of Leather Goods and Department Stores surged by 65.4% and 57.9% respectively, whereas sales value of Supermarkets dropped by 2.2%. Meanwhile, volume index of retail sales went up by 31.8% quarter-to-quarter; the sales volume indices of Chinese Food Products (+173.1%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+142.3%), Leather Goods (+67.4%) and Department Stores (+60.6%) showed notable growth, while the sales volume index of Supermarkets went down by 1.7%.

In respect of retailers’ comments, 73.3% of the retailers anticipated a year-on-year decrease in sales volume in the fourth quarter of 2020, while 24.7% expected the sales volume to stay stable and 2.0% forecasted an increase. Meanwhile, 69.1% of the retailers predicted that the retail prices would remain steady year-on-year in the fourth quarter, 28.9% foresaw a decrease and 2.0% expected an increase. As compared with the third quarter of 2020, there were 53.9% of the retailers envisaging sluggish business in the fourth quarter, whereas retailers expecting stable performance (26.7%) and those anticipating a favourable outlook (19.4%) together accounted for 46.1% of the total.