Macau's retail sales down 45.1% in Q1

Majority of merchants expect sales volumes to do worse in Q2.

Macau’s retail sales value plummeted 45.1% YoY to $1.57b (11.24 billion yuan) in Q1 compared to a year earlier, data from the Statistics and Census Service revealed. Sales volume index also dropped by 44.8% YoY over the same period.

Compared with Q1 2019, the sale values of watches and jewelry shrunk 57.5%, whilst department store sale values contracted 56.4%. Adult clothing (-52.9%) and leather goods (-51%) also recorded declines. In terms of sales volume, watches and jewelry crashed 60.7% YoY, followed by department stores (-54.3%), adult clothing (-48.2%) and leather goods (-47.3%).

In contrast, supermarket sales and volumes rose 14% YoY and 11.9% YoY, respectively.

It seems that the worst is yet to come, with 80.5% of merchants expecting sales volumes in Q2 to be lower than the same quarter last year, according to a survey of retailers. This is compared to the 13.3% that believe it will be similar to Q2 2019, and 6.2% who expressed optimism that volumes will rise in Q2.

Meanwhile, 68.1% of merchants predicted that the sales price in the second quarter of 2020 would remain at the same level as last year. Around 27% of merchants believe that prices would fall in Q2. Only 4.9% said that prices will increase.

Further, compared with Q1, about 52.9% of the merchants expected that the operating conditions in Q2, and 47.1% of them think that operating conditions will remain stable (23.9%) or ideal (23.2%).