Retail sales post strong December growth as online sales surge 30.9%

Retail sales hit $35b with online spending now nearly 9% of total sales.

Hong Kong’s online retail sector saw a 6.6% year-on-year growth in December to $35b, with provisional figures from the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) showing online sales reaching $3.1b

This shows an increase of 30.9% from the same month in 2024 and accounted for 8.8% of total retail spending in December.

After adjusting for price changes, the volume of total retail sales rose 5.1% year on year.

For the full year of 2025, online retail sales totaled $35.7b, up 12.8% from 2024, whilst total retail sales reached $380.5b, a 1% increase in value and roughly flat in volume.

The data highlighted continued growth in digital shopping, even as some traditional retail categories saw weaker demand.
 

Category-level data show that jewellery, watches and clocks (+14.3%), and electrical goods and other consumer durables (+58.9%) recorded the largest gains.

In contrast, wearing apparel (-10.3%), fuel (-12.8%), and furniture (-7.9%) saw declines.