Hong Kong retailers are turning into Scrooges, with many deciding against offering big discounts during the Christmas shopping season as consumer confidence rebounds. Retailers offered steep discounts last year to lure Christmas shoppers, but this year they were being less generous, Hong Kong Retail Management Association chairman Yu Pang-chun said. 'The improved economy in general has put people in a spending mood,' Mr Yu said. Rents, meanwhile, are heading upwards as landlords demand more from their tenants, squeezing profit margins. 'Some of our members have told us their landlords are demanding a 20 per cent rise in rent when leasing agreements come due for renewal,' Mr Yu said. In the first week of this month, most shops were offering discounts of just 20 per cent instead of the 60 per cent seen last year. A rebound in retail sales - partly due to the influx of individual mainland travellers - has encouraged retailers to keep prices high. Alison Law, an assistant to the chairman at casual-wear retailer Giordano International, said the company's inventory levels remained low at an average of 20 days. 'It is unjustified for us to adopt a crazy sale,' Ms Law said. But Giordano would offer discounts at selected shops for certain items and periods of time, she said. 'We only give discounts on weekends at individual shops or surprise our customers with two-hour special promotions on certain items. This is what we are doing now to draw attention,' Ms Yu said. Jewellery retailer Luk Fook Holdings (International), which has 20 stores, expects to see a 10 per cent rise in sales over the Christmas and Lunar New Year holidays. 'Our upsurge in sales was mainly spurred by mainland tourists flocking to Hong Kong,' Luk Fook director Paul Law Tim-fuk said. Mainland tourists accounted for 50 per cent of Luk Fook's sales, Mr Law said. He also believed spending would pick up once mainland tourists were permitted to use yuan credit cards. 'It will greatly increase their spending power,' Mr Law said 'I guess they probably will spend 20 per cent more.'
