Hong Kong-listed skin-care product seller Water Oasis said it would pour about 60 per cent of its capital expenditure this year into the mainland as the country is relatively less affected by the economic downturn.
Unlike other sectors, retailers such as Sogo and Carrefour also said the global financial crisis would not delay their expansion plans on the mainland as the domestic market was huge.
'Of the total spending of HK$35 million, we'll pour HK$20 million into opening shops in China,' said chief executive Salina Yu Lai-si.
According to figures published by the National Bureau of Statistics in November last year, total retail sales increased 20.8 per cent year on year to 979.08 billion yuan (HK$1.11 trillion). The report said retail sales growth rate was 1.2 percentage points lower than in October last year, but 2 percentage points higher than November 2007.
Rating agency Standard & Poor's estimated earlier that sales growth in the mainland retail sector was likely to slow this year, although it would remain healthy at 21 per cent for all of last year.
Another report from Morgan Stanley said the mainland's domestic indicators of demand would again be watched closely because that supported the overall growth as external conditions were worsening.