Online sales accounted for 13.1 per cent of total retail sales in September. The value of online retail sales was provisionally HK$4.4 billion, up 12.0 per cent from a year earlier, following a revised 9.9 per cent rise in August. For the first nine months, online retail sales value increased by an estimated 21.2 per cent compared with the same period in 2025.
By retail outlet category, September’s year‑on‑year changes in sales value included electrical goods and other consumer durables not elsewhere classified (+9.7 per cent); jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (+20.3 per cent); other consumer goods not elsewhere classified (+11.5 per cent); food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (+5.3 per cent); medicines and cosmetics (+9.0 per cent); wearing apparel (+11.1 per cent); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (+12.4 per cent); furniture and fixtures (+9.0 per cent); and optical shops (+14.6 per cent). Offsetting categories were supermarkets (-1.0 per cent); department stores (-4.1 per cent); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (-0.5 per cent); fuels (-3.1 per cent); motor vehicles and parts (-34.7 per cent); and Chinese drugs and herbs (-3.0 per cent). On a seasonally adjusted basis, total retail sales value edged down 0.1 per cent quarter on quarter in the third quarter, while the volume slipped 0.2 per cent.
Separately, the department’s latest provisional figures show total receipts of the restaurants sector at HK$27.5 billion in the third quarter of 2026, an increase of 3.1 per cent in value and 2.1 per cent in volume from a year earlier. Total purchases by restaurants rose 5.4 per cent to HK$9.0 billion over the same period. By segment, Chinese restaurants recorded growth of 1.2 per cent in value and 0.3 per cent in volume; non‑Chinese restaurants rose 7.1 per cent in value and 6.1 per cent in volume; fast food shops increased 0.6 per cent in value but fell 0.4 per cent in volume; bars gained 1.0 per cent in value and 0.2 per cent in volume; and miscellaneous eating and drinking places advanced 2.1 per cent in value and 1.3 per cent in volume. On a seasonally adjusted quarter‑to‑quarter basis, total restaurant receipts increased by 2.5 per cent in value and 1.6 per cent in volume. For the first three quarters of 2026, receipts rose 1.5 per cent in value and 0.7 per cent in volume. By month within the quarter, receipts value grew 0.4 per cent in July, 2.0 per cent in August and 6.9 per cent in September, while volumes moved by -0.4 per cent, +1.0 per cent and +5.9 per cent respectively.
A government spokesman said year‑on‑year retail growth quickened to 6.4 per cent in September, the seventeenth straight month of expansion, supported by broadly based gains across outlets, firm local consumption sentiment and a lift from visitor arrivals and festive purchases tied to the earlier Mid‑Autumn Festival. The spokesman added that online spending continued to grow visibly as more consumers used digital channels. For restaurants, business improved through the quarter, with momentum building into September.