Hongkong's Retail Industry Suffers From A Slowdown In Brand Expansion.

Hongkong Tongluowan and Guangdong Road, Nathan road and other shopping Mong District surging, it is hard to imagine the 2003 SARS hit Hongkong's retail industry slump. In order to support Hongkong's economic recovery, the central government launched the free travel of mainland passengers, and then mainland customers grew strongly in Hong Kong.

The number of visitors to Hongkong before the implementation of free travel amounted to 16 million 600 thousand, of which 41.2% came from the mainland. In 2013, the number of visitors to Hong Kong increased to 54 million 300 thousand, of which 75% came from the mainland.

According to the data of the Hongkong tourism board, the average per capita consumption of mainland tourists in Hongkong in 2013 was 8937 yuan (HK $, the same below), while the average consumption of mainland tourists per night was 2721 yuan, which was higher than that of tourists from other regions. The proportion of mainland tourists' consumption to Hongkong's retail industry is increasing day by day, from 14% in 2004 to 34% in 2013.

Mainland tourists are rich in shopping spoils. clothing Cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and jewellery watches and other products are most popular and also affect the retail industry in Hongkong. Between 2004 and 2013, the number of cosmetics and personal care retailers increased 15 times, while jewellery and watches stores increased by 30%.

However, the consumption power of mainland tourists began to weaken. Last year, the number of mainland tourists increased by 16.7%, and the growth rate slowed down. At the same time, the consumption mode of mainland passengers has also changed, mainly from high-grade products to mid-range products. Statistics show that the per capita consumption growth of overnight passengers has slowed down from 16.6% in 2009 to 4.3% in 2013.

Yu Yale, director of the consumer and Gaming Research Department of CLSA, believes that this is related to China's changing consumption patterns. Economics Development related. He said that the number of middle class people in the mainland increased and consumption power increased. Because of the weak economy in Europe and America, many countries are interested in relaxing visa restrictions, attracting tourists from the mainland and stimulating tourism related industries. This believes that more mainland tourists will be encouraged to travel to Europe and America, which will reduce the proportion of mainland tourists to Hong Kong and Macao in the future. But Hong Kong and Macao are still the preferred tourist attractions for mainland tourists.

Apart from the increase in the number of outbound travel choices, Zheng Rong, director of retail and consumer goods in PWC Asia Pacific and Hongkong and Mainland China, pointed out that sales of high-end goods such as luxury goods in Hongkong were reduced in the mainland. Due to the quality and safety problems in the mainland, Hongkong's daily necessities have become a favorite of mainland tourists.

Zheng Huanran also said that because of the price advantage, mainland tourists liked to buy famous brands in Hongkong. Later, under the influence of rents and other factors, the price of famous brand goods in Hongkong is not much different from that in Southeast Asia and other regions, and the attraction to mainland tourists is reduced.

Due to the tight supply of shops, the tourism industry continued to expand the retail industry, and the rent of retail shops increased by 69.4% on average from 2004 to 2013.

In addition to the change in the consumption mode of mainland tourists, Zheng Huanran believes that in the past, some of the brands were expanding rapidly and shops were highly concentrated. At present, the growth of retail sales is slowing down, so the short-term impact is obvious.

Take Tongluowan, a tourist attraction in Hongkong, for example. There are 11 and 7 Sasa and ZhuYue respectively in Hongkong local cosmetics shop here. There are 13 and 5 shops in Tongluowan and Shanghai respectively. The shops are highly concentrated.

Zheng Huanran pointed out that many famous brand sales in Hongkong were affected, plus rent pressure, and the pace of expansion of the brand began to slow down last year. This year, the signs of slowdown are more obvious.

Liu Kebin, director of business operations at Zhou Shengsheng, confirmed this statement. He said that during the May 1 golden week, the sales of each single item of jewelry in the store had a double-digit decline compared with the same period last year. The slowdown in sales believes that it will affect the negotiations on the deployment and renewal of shops in the future. In the current atmosphere, we believe that Jin Pu will be more cautious when deciding to open a new store.

Sasa, a local Hongkong store selling cosmetics, dropped about 1% of the total sales in Hong Kong and Macao on May 1, 3, and about 5% in the same store. Although the total volume of transactions increased by 10%, the average amount of each transaction fell by more than 10% due to the weakening of the consumption power of mainland tourists.

Past times Causeway Bay The skin care shops and gold shops in the area are full of guests, but the traffic volume is obviously thinner now. From prosperity to prosperity, to Wang Ding's failure to make a fortune, Hongkong will face two difficulties in the future.

The Immigration Department of the Hongkong Special Administrative Region government announced the number of inbound passenger arrivals during the Golden Week holidays in the mainland. During the holiday period of from May 1st to 3rd this year, the number of mainland tourists decreased by 1.7% over the same period last year, the first time since the launch of the free travel of mainland passengers in 2003. The number of mainland visitors has also decreased by 2.5% over the past Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the first time in 3 years.