year-on-year change in value of retail sales for q3 2021
Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that value of retail sales for the third quarter of 2021 totalled MOP15.98 billion, up by 78.1% year-on-year. After removing the effect of price changes, the sales volume index surged by 86.5% year-on-year.
Among the major retail trade activities, sales values of Communication Equipment (+218.6%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+208.5%), Leather Goods (+171.3%) and Department Stores (+96.9%) registered significant year-on-year growth, while the sales value of Motor Vehicles (-24.9%) declined. Meanwhile, sales volume indices of Communication Equipment (+241.2%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+215.7%), Leather Goods (+181.3%) and Department Stores (+102.5%) showed substantial year-on-year rise, whereas the index of Motor Vehicles (-24.0%) decreased. For the first three quarters of 2021, the value of retail sales totalled MOP55.45 billion, double the amount in the corresponding period of last year; the figure represented a mere drop of 1.8% over the same period of 2019 (MOP56.44 billion), which implied that retail sales have largely returned to pre-pandemic levels. The increase in retail sales value was mainly driven by an uplift in the sales of Leather Goods, Communication Equipment and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery. In addition, the sales volume index for the first three quarters of 2021 soared by 115.7% year-on-year and grew by 3.9% from 2019.
Value of retail sales in the third quarter of 2021 dropped by 22.9% as compared with the revised figure (MOP20.71 billion) in the previous quarter. The sales values of Adults’ Clothing and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery fell by 36.9% and 30.8% quarter-to-quarter respectively, ascribable to a fall in the number of visitor arrivals resulting from the temporarily tightened entry and exit measures in August. The sales value of Supermarkets, however, grew by 17.0%. Meanwhile, the volume index of retail sales went down by 22.6% quarter-to-quarter, with sales volume indices of Adults’ Clothing (-33.3%) and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (-31.0%) recording marked decreases; yet, the index of Supermarkets (+16.7%) showed an increase.
In respect of retailers’ comments, 66.8% of the retailers anticipated a year-on-year decrease in sales volume in the fourth quarter of this year, 29.2% expected the sales volume to stay stable and 4.0% forecasted an increase. Meanwhile, 69.0% of the retailers predicted that the retail prices would remain steady year-on-year in the fourth quarter, 24.2% foresaw a decrease and 6.8% expected an increase. As compared with the third quarter of 2021, about 62.0% of the retailers envisaging sluggish business in the fourth quarter, whereas retailers expecting stable performance (22.0%) and those anticipating a favourable outlook (16.0%) together accounted for 38.0% of the total.