Watches, jewellery boosts Hong Kong retail sales growth

Booming trade in watches, jewellery and gifts are flattering the overall performance of Hong Kong retail sales this year. For the first four months combined, retail sales are up 13.9 per cent year on year. But while the consistent double-digit increases in sales over the first four months of this year serve as an encouragement for the broader retail market – not to mention nervous landlords – high-price goods are dominating the numbers. Due to their sheer value, fluctuations in sales volume of the “jewellery, watches and clocks and valuable gifts” category, (as defined by the Census and Statistics Department), always has the greatest impact on the overall figure Thus it is difficult to get a sense of the more mainstream, locally driven retail sales market. April’s 12.3 per cent rise in total Hong Kong retail sales followed an 11.5 per cent rise in March and a 15.7 per cent gain in combined January-February, . Source