Hong Kong’s retail sales value for medicines and cosmetics rose 16.4% year on year in February 2026 to HKD 3.618 billion, according to provisional data released by the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government. Sales volume in the same category increased 18.1%.
Broader Retail Recovery
Total retail sales value in Hong Kong reached HKD 35.05 billion in February, up 19.3% from a year earlier, while total retail sales volume rose 17.5%. Online retail sales increased 29% to HKD 2.971 billion and accounted for 8.5% of total retail sales value.
For the three months ending February 2026, the seasonally adjusted total retail sales value rose 2.4% from the previous three-month period, while sales volume increased 1.6%.
Visitor Demand Supports Beauty
A Hong Kong government spokesperson said the local economy has maintained strong growth momentum since the start of the year and that robust visitor arrivals have supported continued improvement in retail. The government also said it will continue monitoring geopolitical developments and their potential effect on consumer demand.
For beauty brands and distributors, the February data suggests Hong Kong remains a live travel-retail and cross-border consumption market, even as the policy outlook remains under watch. This final sentence is an inference based on the government’s retail and visitor comments.
