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The last time retail sales fell in Hong Kong was during the Sars epidemic of 2003 but this year there’s no virus to blame for slumping sales of luxury goods. According to a report from the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s retail sales fell .02% in 2014 “mainly due to lower sales of luxury products.”
The usually lucrative holiday season failed to deliver in 2014, with retail sales dropping by 3.9% and sales of luxury items like jewelry and watches falling 13.7%. Barclay’s analyst Phoebe Tse pointed out that luxury-loving Chinese customers were spending their money elsewhere as their overseas spending jumped 49% in December.
