Italian Chamber Report – Impact of Covid-19 on the Retail Industry

Chamber's News - April 9, 2020

The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Macao, in collaboration with the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Hong Kong, has conducted a survey to understand the Covid-19’s impact on the Retail business and the potential areas of intervention to support enterprises.

A formal letter, along with the report, has been sent on April 8 to the Financial Secretary, Paul MP Chan and to the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Edward Yau, proposing possible initiatives such as:

The launch of employment credit schemes aimed at reducing the impact of the cost of personnel to avoid further reduction of employees.
A rental relief package for tenants of shops and stores to reduce the burden of rental costs on total fixed costs of retail companies.

Among the main findings of the survey:

Over 60% of the companies operating within the Retail Industry have already closed or planned to close their stores or shops (80 venues already confirmed as closed, potentially up to 250).
More than 40% of respondents are already implementing compulsory paid leave for their employees, while another fraction of them (27%) is also adopting unpaid leave.
Around 36% of the companies have already reduced the number of employees, and an additional 16% will do so in the near future.

Read the full report at the following link.

Thank you very much.