Occupy Central Movement in HK Affects Garments Retailing

Hong Kong’s Occupy Central movement has weaken the sales status of retail business during Chinese Golden Week of National Day. It has scared away many tourists. Thus, the pressures of retailers are increased further.

The Hong Kong Central district has been thrown into chaos with many demonstrators gathered there. The protest during the National Day holiday made the market miss an important shopping season.

“We can predict that the chaos in the street will encumber our sales volume in October.”Tim Condon, the leader of Singapore ING Group’s Asia team stated in a report.

A spokeswoman of Giorgio Armani said that their exclusive shops at Central district and Pacific Place opened for business as usual on 6th October. However, they were informed that the diversion of public traffic might influence traffic there. Garments retailing in Hongkong is greatly influenced by the movement.

A spokeswoman of Lane Crawford Joyce Group said that they were trying their best to “guarantee customer experience and service quality during this period”. However, they had to close stores for protecting customers and staff.

Fashion Designer Erbert Chong said he was waiting to see if it was possible to hold the spring & summer fashion show as scheduled. The show was originally scheduled to hold at a Mott 32 a restaurant in Central district on 15th October.

Travel agencies proved that tourists from China mainland had decreased to 30%. This is not favorable. The golden week is supposed to be the busiest period during October. Nevertheless, the movement makes a mess. Sales volume of apparel industry was slackened.

Retail business of HK relies greatly on the tourists from China mainland. According to Credit Suisse, the tourists contributed to almost one-third of HK retail sales in 2013.