Survey shows significant drop in retail, supermarkets the exception

Retail sales in Macau registered a significant drop during the first three months of 2020 owing to the Covid-19-related restrictions imposed on visitor entries, a Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) survey has shown.
The survey reveals a year-on-year drop of 45.1% in value and 44.8% in sales volume across almost all retail products, with supermarkets the only exception, as they increased their sales value by 14%, as well as their sales volume, which was up by 11.9%, when compared with the same period last year.
Registering the most significant drops where the sales values of Watches, Clocks, and Jewelry (-57.5%), Department Stores (-56.4%), Adults’ Clothing (-52.9%) and Leather Goods (-51.0%).
Decreases were even clearer in terms of sales volume, with Watches, Clocks, and Jewelry registering a drop of 61%, and similar drops seen in the categories of Department Stores (-54%), Adults’ Clothing (-48%) and Leather Goods (-47%).
In total, the first quarter of 2020 recorded only MOP11.24 billion in sales.
The survey from DSEC also noted that the large majority of retailers said they continued to hold a very pessimistic outlook of the market for the second quarter of this year, with 81% of them forecasting a continuing drop in sales.
On the other hand, 13% of the retailers contacted by the DSEC said they expected sales volumes to remain stable, while only a minority of 6% forecasted an increase in sales volume for April to June.
According to the retailers, prices are likely to remain steady over the second quarter. RM