A rare bright spot: Hong Kong retail chain notches growth as city’s sales figures keep falling
Japanese-themed Yata succeeds in part on weak Japanese yen
A Hong Kong department store chain is expecting moderate year-on-year growth in sales volume despite the city’s overall decline in retail sales this year.
Japanese-themed Yata, which runs three department stores and four supermarkets in the city, anticipated that its sales for five days from today would grow by an average of 3 per cent compared with last year’s five-day sales figures.
Local retail sales fell for a seventh straight month in September as a drop in Chinese tourists and weak consumer sentiment hurt retailers.
READ MORE: Hong Kong retail sales slump by widest margin since January
Retail sales dropped 6.4 per cent from a year earlier to HK$35.2 billion, the biggest percentage decline since January this year. That followed a revised 5.3 per cent fall in August.
In terms of volume, September sales slipped 3.1 per cent. Yata chief executive Daniel Chong Wai-chung said today consumers bought more food stuffs despite a slowdown in the economy.
He said business at its supermarkets had risen by 17.2 per cent this year. Sales of water filters jumped 30 per cent owing to the recent scare of tap water containing excessive amounts of lead at public housing estates and schools, he said.
The chain was holding a five-day sale from today. Chong said the chain recently benefitted from the Japanese yen’s low exchange rate.
READ MORE: Department store chain Yata prospers by appealing to Hong Kong’s tastes
“Overall retail sales remain weak but the low Japanese yen makes it possible for us to offer discounts for many Japanese goods to attract consumers,” he said.
Chong also expected sales of blankets, clothing and electric appliances for the winter would be up by 3 per cent as the city’s weather turned cool.
A male customer, surnamed Yip, and his wife, turned up early at one of the chain’s stores and said they were planning to spend HK$3,000 on bedroom products.
