April Retail Sales Up 12.1%

The value of total retail sales in April, provisionally estimated at $27 billion, rose 12.1% compared with the same month in 2020, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

Of the total retail sales value in April, online sales accounted for 6.8%. Provisionally estimated at $1.8 billion, the value of online retail sales increased 27.2% year-on-year.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales for the month increased 10.9% compared with a year earlier.

The value of sales of other consumer goods, not elsewhere classified increased 29.1%.

This was followed by sales of electrical goods and other consumer durable goods, not elsewhere classified (+10.2% in value); wearing apparel (+64.7%); jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (+93.2%); medicines and cosmetics (+16.4%); motor vehicles and parts (+22.8%); fuels (+26.7%); furniture and fixtures (+6.8%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (+36%); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (+10.4%); Chinese drugs and herbs (+15.9%); and optical shops (+34.6%).

The value of sales of commodities in supermarkets decreased 12.7% for the period, followed by sales of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (-3.7% in value) and commodities in department stores (-22.2%).

The Government said retail sales continued to grow visibly on a year-on-year basis in April due to a low base of comparison. However, retail sales volume was still far below its pre-pandemic level as inbound tourism remained frozen.

Looking ahead, as inbound tourism will likely take time to recover amid the evolving global pandemic situation, the near-term outlook for the retail trade is still challenging.

It is essential for the community to actively participate in the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme to create favourable conditions for a more visible revival of the retail trade and other consumer-facing activities, the Government noted.