Watch and Clock market divided on outlook for 2018

HONG KONG – Exhibitors and buyers at the HKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair, the largest event of its kind in the world are divided when it comes to the level of sales anticipated over the next 12 months, with exhibitors showing significantly higher optimism than their counterparts on the buying side.

Greater unity was on show when it came to evaluating product trends, with the majority of buyers and exhibitors agreeing that smart watches will remain the most popular items well into 2018.

The HKTDC conducted face-to-face interviews with 503 buyers and 331 exhibitors to gauge the industry view as to current market prospects, product trends and e-tailing developments.

While 67% of buyers expected overall sales to remain unchanged or to decrease next year, 54% of exhibitors expected sales to increase as a result of surging production/sourcing prices.

Among buyers, 63% expect the retail price of their products to remain unchanged in 2018, while 32% expect an increase. By contrast, only 5% of buyers expect retail prices to actually decrease.

Online trading is now a significant sales channel in the watches and clocks sector, with some 54% of buyers and exhibitors use e-tailing as a direct sales channel, a rise of 6% on last year. Hktdc-research@hktdc.com  (ATI).