Hong Kong’s retail sales continued to fall in October, though the rate of decline slowed from the previous months. With Christmas just round the corner, retailers fear that the fourth wave of COVID-19 will prevent the industry from capitalizing on one of its most lucrative periods.

Retail sales by value in October decreased to HK$27.4 billion (US$3.53 billion), down 8.8% from a year earlier, according to a provisional estimate by the government’s Census and Statistic Department. It marked the 21st consecutive month since retail sales started declining, but the October statistic was better than the forecast 10.3% drop.

The narrower decline partly reflected improving consumer sentiment, a government spokesperson said, but “with the fourth wave of the local epidemic spreading widely and quickly, the business environment of the retail trade may deteriorate again in the near term.”

Hong Kong’s retail sales have dropped by 27% in the first 10 months of the year.

Retailers were not optimistic about Christmas, said Hong Kong Retail Management Association chair Annie Yau Tse. Businesses targeting tourists in Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok had registered “extremely disappointing” sales, she said.

Tse called on the government to take decisive measures to help Hong Kong achieve “zero infections” again so that the borders could reopen for tourists, though she admitted that visitors were unlikely to return in the first quarter of 2021.

The government should also introduce shopping vouchers and help retailers find cross-border e-commerce solutions, Tse said.

Sales by value of electrical goods and other consumer durables dropped 24.4% from a year ago, while food, alcohol and tobacco declined 6.5%, according to the October government report. Sales of goods in supermarkets and department stores rose by 2.6% and 11.7% respectively.

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