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Message from the Chairman of HKRMA
香港零售管理協會主席之話
Ms. Caroline Mak
麥瑞琼女士
The latest growth in retail sales hit 29% and 20.7% in value and
volume respectively. We are optimistic about retail sales and our
forecast for 2011 is above 25% growth over 2010. Thanks to the
flourishing Mainland inbound tourism resulted from the agreement
with the Chinese Government back in 2003 allowing Mainland
residents from 49 cities to travel to Hong Kong as individual
tourists. The policy remains favourable to the trade but we need to
maintain our attractiveness and enhance tourism-related facilities
to accommodate the increasing crowds of tourists, in particular,
those from the Mainland. These include the development and
enhancement of accommodation and transportation facilities. More
importantly, the relevant authorities should regulate the industry
malpractice as soon as possible to uphold the image of Hong Kong
as a shopping paradise.
Tourism continues to play an important role and Hong Kong is facing
keen competition from neighbouring countries such as Singapore
and Taiwan who are opening up new tourist attractions to lure more
travellers including the Mainlanders. This potential risk prompted
the HKSAR Government to further relax relevant arrangement to
facilitate the entry of Taiwan visitors for business or leisure. This
new measure on the extension of stay that recently came into effect
together with the arrangement for “prior entry registration”, both of
which will likely boost traffic and contribute to Hong Kong-Taiwan
exchanges.
Although the outlook of retail business for the whole year is
expected to be positive, fellow retailers should remain cautious due
to uncertainties in the coming year. Despite the encouraging growth
in retail sales, retail volume has been shrinking since early this year,
which is a reflection of growing inflation. We have also seen our
daily needs such as food are suffering negative volume growth.
Sentiments could be a challenge due to stock market volatility and
weak land auction results in recent months. The economic and fiscal
condition of the US and the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone will
no doubt pose threats to the global economy and we must stay alert
at all times notwithstanding the fact that the seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate went down to 3.2% from the previous 3.4%.
As you are well aware, there is continuous high demand for retail
space in prime locations for retailers targeting tourists who visit
Hong Kong for shopping. You may wish to learn that two major
streets in Hong Kong ranked second and third most expensive retail
corridors worldwide. The rent per square foot for retail space in
these two streets is just behind New York’s Fifth Avenue. Rental
remains the key challenge and this has brought much pressure to
industry players not only in securing prime locations but also the
second-tier ones.
According to the latest Government figures, the underlying inflation
rate reached an all time high of 6.3%. Heightening inflation has
largely increased the operating costs of retailers. To sustain the
business, retailers have no choice but to increase product prices
but at the same time take into consideration the need to carefully
balance consumer expectation and competitiveness.
Since the implementation of the minimum wage in May, staff hiring
has become more difficult for the labour-intensive retail and catering
sectors. It is not surprising that people would choose to work for
less tough jobs, such as security guards given similar wage level.
零售業前景一片明朗，最新的銷貨價值及銷貨數量分別增
加
29%
及
20.7%
，預測全年銷貨價值將較
2010
年增長超過
25%
。自從中港兩地於
2003
年簽訂協議，放寬內地
49
個城市
居民以自由行旅客身份來港旅遊，內地訪港旅客數目便不斷
上升。這項政策固然惠及本港零售業，但我們亦須繼續維持
香港的吸引力，提升旅遊相關設施，包括發展及改善住宿及
交通設施，以配合與日俱增的旅客數量，特別是內地旅客。
更重要的是，有關當局應盡快規管旅遊業界的不當經營行
為，以保持香港購物天堂的美譽。
旅遊業是本港經濟的重要支柱，但目前香港面對鄰近地區的
激烈競爭，例如新加坡及台灣皆紛紛開發全新的旅遊景點，
吸引內地及海外旅客。在種種外圍競爭下，香港特區政府進
一步放寬台灣商務及休閒旅客的入境規定，延長台灣旅客的
逗留期限，同時允許他們預先辦理入境登記。相信這些安
排，定能增加訪港旅客人數，加強港台兩地的交流。
零售業今年的前景展望預測理想，但來年將有不少不明朗因
素，故業界不應掉以輕心。儘管銷售額的增長令人鼓舞，銷
貨數量卻自年初起持續收縮，反映通脹加劇，食物等日常必
需品的銷貨數量更出現負增長。近月股票市場動盪，賣地成
績強差人意，市場瀰漫悲觀情緒，亦為業界帶來考驗。雖然
季度調整失業率由早前的
3.4%
降至
3.2%
，可是美國政府的經
濟和財政狀況，以及歐元區的主權債務危機仍然威脅環球經
濟，我們務必時刻保持警惕。
眾所周知，零售商戶為吸納訪港購物旅客，均積極爭奪本港
黃金地段的舖位，令需求持續高企。香港兩條主要購物大道
的每平方呎租金，更躋身全球第二及第三位，僅次於紐約的
第五街。租金絕對是業界面對的一大難題，即使是二線地段
的商舖，零售商戶也要面對沉重的租金壓力。
根據政府的最新數據，基本通脹率為
6.3%
，創歷年新高，大
大增加零售商戶的經營成本。在別無選擇之下，零售商戶不
得不提高產品售價，並盡力在消費者期望和競爭力之間取得
平衡。
自五月實施最低工資以來，一如所料，求職者傾向選擇保安
員等較為輕鬆的工作，去換取相同的工資，這令到勞工密集
的零售業及飲食業在招聘人手方面更覺困難。
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