Retail Sales Index for November 2020

Retail sales fell 1.9% in November 2020 on a year-on-year basis, an improvement over the 8.5% year-on-year decline recorded in October 2020. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales decreased 2.9% in November 2020, compared to the 11.0% decline in October 2020. The smaller year-on-year decline in retail sales was due mainly to multiple sales events such as Singles’ Day (11.11) and Black Friday as well as from new mobile phone launches. Compared to the previous month, seasonally adjusted retail sales increased 7.3% in November 2020. Excluding motor vehicles, seasonally adjusted retail sales grew by 9.8% compared to October 2020.

The estimated total retail sales value in November 2020 was about $3.6 billion. Of these, online retail sales made up an estimated 14.3%, higher than the 10.5% recorded in October 2020. Excluding motor vehicles, the total retail sales value was about $3.1 billion, where online retail sales made up 16.7%. The higher online retail sales proportion was due to the online shopping events in November such as Singles’ Day (11.11). Online retail sales of the Computer & Telecommunications Equipment, Furniture & Household Equipment and Supermarkets & Hypermarkets industries made up 51.3%, 28.7% and 12.2% of the total sales of their respective industry.

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