Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department on May 3 reported that retail sales value for March was $4.06 billion (HK$31.2 billion), down 7% YoY, missing market expectations. Adjusted for price changes, retail sales volume fell 8.6% year-on-year, below the expected 3.6% decline. Online sales accounted for 7.8% of total retail sales, reaching $312 million (HK$2.4 billion), a 4.7% decrease YoY. Compared to last year, jewelry, watch, and luxury gift sales fell by 17.7%, while supermarket goods fell by 3.4%, and clothing by 17.5%. Conversely, sales of drugs and cosmetics rose by 8.9%, and automobile and auto parts by 7.6%. In the first quarter, total retail sales value dropped by 1.3%, sales volume by 3.1%, and online sales value by 10.7%.