The value of total retail sales for February, provisionally estimated at $29.4 billion, decreased 13% compared with the same month a year earlier, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.
After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate represents a 15% year-on-year decrease.
Of the total retail sales value in February, online sales accounted for 7.8%. Provisionally estimated at $2.3 billion, the value of this segment dropped 7.3% from the same month a year earlier.
Noting that retail sales tend to show greater volatility in the first two months of a year due to the timing of the Lunar New Year, the department said consumer spending in the local market normally attains a seasonal high before the festival.
It added that as the Lunar New Year fell on January 29 this year but on February 10 last year, it is more appropriate to analyse the retail sales figures for January and February taken together in making a year-on-year comparison.
For the first two months of 2025 taken together, it was provisionally estimated that the value of total retail sales decreased 7.8% year-on-year, while the value of online retail sales dropped 2.4% compared with the same period in 2024.
The value of sales of other consumer goods not elsewhere classified dropped by 2% in the first two months of 2025 compared with a year earlier.
This was followed by sales of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (down 15.8%); commodities in supermarkets ( down 4.4%); wearing apparel (down 5.4%); electrical goods and other consumer durable goods not elsewhere classified (down 5.3%); commodities in department stores (down 9.9%); fuels (down 8.5%); motor vehicles and parts (down 49.9%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (down 12.3%); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (down 10.9%); furniture and fixtures (down 25.6%); Chinese drugs and herbs (down 9.1%); and optical shops (down 7.6%).
On the other hand, the value of sales of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco increased by 0.7% in the first two months of 2025 over the same period a year earlier. This was followed by sales of medicines and cosmetics (up 0.6%).
The Government commented that the year-on-year decline in the value of total retail sales in February widened, partly due to the earlier arrival of Lunar New Year in late January this year as compared to mid-February last year.
Taking the first two months of 2025 together to remove this effect, the value of total retail sales saw a narrower decline on a year-on-year basis than December 2024.
Looking ahead, the Government said the various measures by the central government to boost the Mainland economy and benefit Hong Kong, together with the Special Administrative Region Government’s efforts to promote tourism and mega events and the sustained increases in employment earnings in local labour market, would benefit the retail sector.
This is despite the continued challenge from the change in consumption patterns of visitors and residents, it added.
