Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the value of retail sales totalled MOP16.96 billion in the third quarter of 2025, up by 2.2% year-on-year and 5.8% from the second quarter (MOP16.02 billion).
Sales values of Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles, Watches, Clocks & Jewellery and Pharmacies rose by 22.0%, 14.5% and 11.0% year-on-year respectively in the third quarter, driving the growth in the total value of retail sales. On the other hand, sales value of Motor Vehicles decreased by 28.4%. After removing the effect of prices, the sales volume index grew by 0.8% year-on-year in the third quarter. The sales volume indices of Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (+28.9%), Pharmacies (+11.3%) and Department Stores (+9.1%) increased, while the index of Motor Vehicles (-28.2%) dropped.
For the first three quarters of 2025, value of retail sales decreased by 5.4% year-on-year to MOP50.56 billion. The sales values of Automotive Fuels and Leather Goods fell by 11.6% and 11.1% year-on-year respectively, whereas the sales value of Pharmacies grew by 7.8%. Meanwhile, the average sales volume index dipped by 7.5% year-on-year in the first three quarters; the index of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery dropped by 19.6%, while that of Pharmacies rose by 8.2%.
In respect of retailers’ comments, 46.8% of the retailers expected the sales volume to stay stable year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, 43.5% anticipated a decrease in sales volume and 9.7% forecasted an increase. Meanwhile, 77.7% of the retailers predicted that retail prices would remain steady year-on-year in the fourth quarter, 11.6% foresaw a decrease and 10.7% expected an increase. As compared with the third quarter, about 47.1% of the retailers envisaged stable business performance in the fourth quarter, 33.9% expected a slowdown and 19.0% anticipated a favourable outlook.