Retail Sales Survey for the 4th Quarter 2020
Source:DSEC
Among the major retail trade activities, sales values of Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (-38.5%), Automotive Fuels (-33.8%) and Adults’ Clothing (-29.7%) registered notable year-on-year decrease, whereas sales values of Leather Goods (+19.7%) and Motor Vehicles (+5.1%) increased. In terms of volume of retail sales, sales volume indices of Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (-35.8%), Pharmacies (-24.2%) and Adults’ Clothing (-22.2%) declined year-on-year, while the indices of Leather Goods (+26.5%) and Communication Equipment (+9.6%) saw a rise.
Value of retail sales in the fourth quarter of 2020 more than doubled (+102.5%) as compared with the revised figure (MOP8.97 billion) in the third quarter. Sales values of Communication Equipment (+293.0%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+248.4%) and Leather Goods (+214.8%) registered sizeable growth over the previous quarter; however, sales values of Supermarkets (-8.1%) and Automotive Fuels (-5.5%) decreased. Sales volume indices of Communication Equipment, Watches, Clocks & Jewellery and Leather Goods soared by 299.3%, 252.9% and 218.8% quarter-to-quarter respectively, whereas the indices of Supermarkets and Automotive Fuels dropped by 8.1% and 6.5% respectively.
For the whole year of 2020, total value of retail sales decreased by 41.5% year-on-year to MOP45.19 billion. Among the major retail trade activities, sales values of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (MOP7.27 billion), Adults’ Clothing (MOP4.16 billion) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (MOP1.69 billion) declined by 54.1%, 53.3% and 52.5% year-on-year respectively, whereas sales value of Supermarkets (MOP5.15 billion) grew by 4.1%. In 2020, the sales volume index fell by 40.2% year-on-year, with the indices of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (-58.0%), Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (-50.9%) and Adults’ Clothing (-48.3%) showing a marked drop; on the other hand, the sales volume index of Supermarkets (+3.1%) increased.
In respect of retailers’ comments, 55.3% of the retailers anticipated a year-on-year decrease in the sales volume in the first quarter of 2021, while 37.2% expected the sales volume to stay stable and 7.5% forecasted an increase. Meanwhile, 66.2% of the retailers predicted that the retail prices would remain steady year-on-year in the first quarter, 26.8% foresaw a decrease and 7.0% expected an increase. As compared with the fourth quarter of 2020, about 49.6% of the retailers envisaged sluggish business in the first quarter of 2021, whereas the retailers expecting stable performance (42.4%) and those anticipating a favourable outlook (8.0%) together accounted for 50.4% of the total.
Related Information: Retail Sales Survey for the 4th Quarter 2020