Hongkong'S Retail Sales Fell 1.3% In March, The First In 5 Years.

Hongkong's retail industry has seen its first decline in 5 years in the past two years, namely, P, free travel and local consumption.

Yesterday, the census and Statistics Department released the retail figures in March. The value of the total retail sales decreased by 1.3% to about 39 billion 600 million yuan per year, not only a sharp decline compared with the 6.7% growth in the first two months of this year, but also the negative growth caused by the "a href=" //www.sjfzxm.com/news/index_c.asp "non seasonal factor" /a for the first time since September 2009. The industry described the poor performance in March with "shock". It said that not only the desire to spend too much time in Hong Kong overnight, but also the local consumption began to be worrying.

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< p > government spokesman pointed out that the government will pay close attention to whether the recent slowdown in retail trade is sustained and whether the change in the external economic environment and the mode of passenger spending will affect the performance of the retail industry in the future.

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< p > < strong > the number of people entering the industry is increasing: overnight customers are greatly reduced < /strong > < /p >

< p > it is worth noting that in March, the number of inbound tourist arrivals increased by about 27% annually, but the retail industry was not driven by this. Insiders pointed out that this was related to a sharp drop in the proportion of overnight passengers, because the average number of passengers who spend the night would be more.

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< p > in the subdivision industry, durable goods consumption and < a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/index_c.asp" > jewellery /a > clock sales all go backward, showing that local consumption and free consumption are not good enough.

In durable consumer goods, cars and electrical appliances recorded a decrease of about 12% and 15%, respectively. < a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/index_c.asp" > clothing shoes > /a > 5%.

Driven by inflation, food and beverage categories recorded a steady growth of about 10%.

In terms of gold and jewelry, it fell by 8.9% in March, and the total in the first quarter increased by only 1%.

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< p > < strong > Mai REI material resumed growth in April < /strong > < /p >

< p > Mari, chairman of Hongkong Retail Management Association, said yesterday that the data in March shocked her and negative growth was not expected.

She pointed out that retail sales in the first quarter of this year increased by 4.2%, compared with the 13.9% growth in the first quarter of 2013, and the results were very poor.

She expects sales to resume growth in April due to better weather, but it will still reduce the growth of retail sales in 2014 from 9% to 11% in the previous year to 7%.

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"P" Mai also pointed out that local consumption began to be worrisome after the weakening of consumption power.

She refers to nearly 700 thousand of the retail and tourism practitioners in Hong Kong. If the industry does not have an income growth of 7% to 10%, many shops will not be able to afford high rent or cut manpower and reduce labor directly, which will directly affect the local consumption power.

In addition, the "locust drive" operation and various parades also made mainland tourists eager to visit Hong Kong. "The message that" Hongkong does not welcome you "is circulated on the mainland. If you are a tourist, you will not want to go to a place that does not welcome you.

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< p > < strong > "driving locust" damaged mainland people's desire to visit Hong Kong < /strong > /p >

Zhu Jitao, executive director of Prince P, said that after the Spring Festival, the market was very quiet. Although the 3 and April are off-season, this year is particularly weak.

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< p > Zhu Jitao continued to point out that the shop seemed crowded, but most of them did not buy it. "Yesterday, I procused a parade. I could hardly see the golden week of May 1".

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< p > < strong > the industry is pale. May Day Golden Week < /strong > /p >

< p > Mari, President of Hongkong Retail Management Association, pointed out that the industry has generally thought that the May 1 Golden Week has no surprises, and most of its views are sparse. It expects that the sales volume will be flat this year during the golden week.

Zhu Jitao, executive director of Prince jewellery and timepiece, also said he was not optimistic about the performance of the May 1 golden week.

He pointed out that in the 3 golden weeks of the year, the May 1 is the worst effect of the golden week.

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< p > Zhu Jitao said that although the passenger flow increased yesterday on the first day of the golden week, the customers' consumption intention was not good, and many of them did not buy it.

He also said that the government should not only listen to a small number of public opinion, but also listen to the voice of the retail industry.

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Compared with P, the department stores selling supermarkets and daily necessities are relatively stable.

Xie Suxian, general manager of Tian Tian Department Store (Marketing Department) said that the sales volume of the 3 new stores in April and 3 increased by 26.6% and 35% respectively.

According to the same store data, the sales of Sha Tin Tian Tian, which has the longest operating time, increased by 2.3% and 12.3% respectively in 3 and April, while the Titian department store in Tai Po increased by 2.9% and 3.9% respectively.

Xie Suxian pointed out that more than 80% of the field's business came from local customers. Free travel is not a major source of tourists, so it has been relatively stable in the past two months. However, it is true that local consumption has come back smoothly. "But this is not surprising. After all, the past two years have experienced dozens of percentage points of high growth."

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