Retail Sales in February 2025 Drop 13% Year-On-Year Amid Changing Consumer Patterns and Earlier Chinese New Year.

Provisional statistics of retail sales for February 2025

The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released the latest figures on retail sales today (March 31).

The value of total retail sales in February 2025, provisionally estimated at $29.4 billion, decreased by 13.0% compared with the same month in 2024. The revised estimate of the value of total retail sales in January 2025 decreased by 3.1% compared with a year earlier. For the first two months of 2025 taken together, it was provisionally estimated that the value of total retail sales decreased by 7.8% compared with the same period in 2024.

Of the total retail sales value in February 2025, online sales accounted for 7.8%. The value of online retail sales in that month, provisionally estimated at $2.3 billion, decreased by 7.3% compared with the same month in 2024. The revised estimate of online retail sales in January 2025 increased by 2.8% compared with a year earlier. For the first two months of 2025 taken together, it was provisionally estimated that the value of online retail sales decreased by 2.4% compared with the same period in 2024.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales in February 2025 decreased by 15.0% compared with a year earlier. The revised estimate of the volume of total retail sales in January 2025 decreased by 5.1% compared with a year earlier. For the first two months of 2025 taken together, the provisional estimate of the total retail sales decreased by 9.9% in volume compared with the same period in 2024.

In interpreting these figures, it should be noted that retail sales tend to show greater volatility in the first two months of a year due to the timing of the Chinese New Year. Consumer spending in the local market normally attains a seasonal high before the Festival. As the Chinese New Year fell on January 29 this year but on February 10 last year, it is more appropriate to analyse the retail sales figures for January and February taken together in making year-on-year comparison.

Analysed by broad type of retail outlet in descending order of the provisional estimate of the value of sales and comparing the combined total sales for January and February 2025 with the same period a year earlier, the value of sales of other consumer goods not elsewhere classified decreased by 2.0%. This was followed by sales of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (-15.8% in value); commodities in supermarkets (-4.4%); wearing apparel (-5.4%); electrical goods and other consumer durable goods not elsewhere classified (-5.3%); commodities in department stores (-9.9%); fuels (-8.5%); motor vehicles and parts (-49.9%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (-12.3%); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (-10.9%); furniture and fixtures (-25.6%); Chinese drugs and herbs (-9.1%); and optical shops (-7.6%).

On the other hand, the value of sales of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco increased by 0.7% in the first two months of 2025 over the same period a year earlier. This was followed by sales of medicines and cosmetics (+0.6% in value).

Based on the seasonally adjusted series, the provisional estimate of the value of total retail sales decreased by 2.0% in the three months ending February 2025 compared with the preceding three-month period, while the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales decreased by 4.0%.

Commentary

A government spokesman said that the value of total retail sales increased further in February 2025 over the preceding month on a seasonally adjusted comparison. The year-on-year decline in the value of total retail sales in February 2025 widened, partly due to the earlier arrival of Chinese New Year in late January this year as compared to mid-February last year. Taking the first two months of 2025 together to remove this effect, the value of total retail sales saw a narrower decline on a year-on-year basis than December 2024.

Looking ahead, the spokesman said that the various measures by the Central Government to boost the Mainland economy and benefit Hong Kong, the SAR Government's proactive efforts to promote tourism and mega events, and the sustained increases in employment earnings in local labour market, would benefit the retail sector, though it would continue to face challenge from the change in consumption patterns of visitors and residents.

Further information

Table 1 presents the revised figures on value index and value of retail sales for all retail outlets and by broad type of retail outlet for January 2025 as well as the provisional figures for February 2025. The provisional figures on the value of retail sales for all retail outlets and by broad type of retail outlet as well as the corresponding year-on-year changes for the first two months of 2025 taken together are also shown.

Table 2 presents the revised figures on value of online retail sales for January 2025 as well as the provisional figures for February 2025. The provisional figures on year-on-year changes for the first two months of 2025 taken together are also shown.

Table 3 presents the revised figures on volume index of retail sales for all retail outlets and by broad type of retail outlet for January 2025 as well as the provisional figures for February 2025. The provisional figures on year-on-year changes for the first two months of 2025 taken together are also shown.

Table 4 shows the movements of the value and volume of total retail sales in terms of the year-on-year rate of change for a month compared with the same month in the preceding year based on the original series, and in terms of the rate of change for a three-month period compared with the preceding three-month period based on the seasonally adjusted series.

The classification of retail establishments follows the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification (HSIC) Version 2.0, which is used in various economic surveys for classifying economic units into different industry classes.

These retail sales statistics measure the sales receipts in respect of goods sold by local retail establishments and are primarily intended for gauging the short-term business performance of the local retail sector. Data on retail sales are collected from local retail establishments through the Monthly Survey of Retail Sales (MRS). Local retail establishments with and without physical shops are covered in MRS and their sales, both through conventional shops and online channels, are included in the retail sales statistics.

The retail sales statistics cover consumer spending on goods but not on services (such as those on housing, catering, medical care and health services, transport and communication, financial services, education and entertainment) which account for over 50% of the overall consumer spending. Moreover, they include spending on goods in Hong Kong by visitors but exclude spending outside Hong Kong by Hong Kong residents. Hence they should not be regarded as indicators for measuring overall consumer spending.

Users interested in the trend of overall consumer spending should refer to the data series of private consumption expenditure (PCE), which is a major component of the Gross Domestic Product published at quarterly intervals. Compiled from a wide range of data sources, PCE covers consumer spending on both goods (including goods purchased from all channels) and services by Hong Kong residents whether locally or abroad. Please refer to the C&SD publication "Gross Domestic Product by Expenditure Component" for more details.

More detailed statistics are given in the "Report on Monthly Survey of Retail Sales". Users can browse and download this publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1080003&scode=530).

Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact the Distribution Services Statistics Section of C&SD (Tel: 3903 7400; E-mail : mrs@censtatd.gov.hk).

eHealth App introduces new function for viewing radiology reports

The Health Bureau (HHB) announced today (April 3) that eHealth users can now view radiology reports deposited into their eHealth accounts by the Hospital Authority, the Department of Health and private healthcare providers (HCPs) through the eHealth mobile application (eHealth App), allowing citizens to better understand and manage their health.

Users can generally view the radiology reports through the "Investigations" function of the App 14 days after the reports are released, and the App's information centre will also issue relevant notifications. The HHB advises citizens to first enquire whether the HCPs can deposit examination records into their personal eHealth accounts when selecting private HCPs for radiological examinations, to enable the building of a comprehensive electronic health record (eHR).

Currently, all public HCPs and over 115 private HCPs with more than 550 service locations in total, including private hospitals, medical group practices and radiological examination centres, are technically ready. If citizens have given "sharing consent" to relevant private HCPs, their radiology reports can then be deposited in their eHealth accounts for access by the citizens and other authorised healthcare professionals. As at the end of February this year, a total of 40 private HCPs (involving nearly 100 service locations) have deposited radiology reports into the eHealth accounts of over 3.1 million citizens upon obtaining their authorisations.

A spokesman for the HHB said, "Under the eHealth+ five-year development plan, we are committed to building a personal lifelong eHR profile and a comprehensive personal medical record for every citizen, while creating a one-stop comprehensive health portal through the eHealth App to help citizens manage their health records, access health information, monitor personal health and establish a healthier lifestyle. With the further enhancement of the App's function, radiology reports of citizens from both public and private HCPs, as well as those from various government-subsidised healthcare programmes (such as the Project on Enhancing Radiological Investigation Services through Collaboration with the Private Sector), are consolidated for citizens' access at any time, eliminating the inconvenience of storing paper reports and saving costs on redundant tests. This also facilitates authorised HCPs in conducting analysis and comparison, thereby providing a seamless and personalised care journey for citizens."

Since the launch of the eHealth App in 2021, the Government has progressively expanded the health records available for citizens' viewing. Currently, eHealth users can access nine types of eHRs, namely, personal identification and demographic data, allergies and adverse drug reactions, encounters and appointments, immunisation records, medication records, laboratory and radiology reports, healthcare referrals, observation and lifestyle records, as well as medical certificates. In the future, the Government will gradually make more health records available for citizen's viewing, including radiology images, Chinese medicine prescription records as well as dental check-ups records and dental conditions.

The Government will continue to take a multipronged approach to encourage and facilitate the deposit of citizens' eHRs into eHealth by private HCPs, thereby assisting citizens in accessing, managing and using their own eHRs during the healthcare process. Through the eHealth website (www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/index.html), citizens can easily identify the scope of medical records that an HCP is capable of depositing into their personal eHealth accounts. In addition, the Government will launch an eHealth+ accreditation scheme in 2025 to further assist citizens in choosing suitable HCPs, so as to ensure that their medical records will be deposited into their personal eHealth accounts.

The Government announced the rollout of the eHealth+ five-year plan in the 2023 Policy Address, with a view to transforming eHealth into a comprehensive healthcare information infrastructure that integrates multiple functions of healthcare data sharing, service delivery and care journey management. eHealth+ aims to bring about a more seamless and personalised care journey for every citizen and facilitate care co-ordination and cross-sector collaboration, as well as health management and health surveillance, thus enabling citizens to enjoy higher-quality healthcare services while effectively supporting various healthcare policies.

For more information, citizens may visit the eHealth thematic website (app.ehealth.gov.hk/index.html?lang=en) or call the hotline at 3467 6300. The hotline service runs from 9am to 9pm from Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays).