Singapore retail sales rebounded strongly in December, with the luxury watches and jewellery sector leading the charge. 

According to Statistics Singapore, sales – excluding motor vehicles – rose by 8.6 per cent year on year, following November’s more modest growth rate of 4.5 per cent. 

By category, sales of watches & jewellery surged 27.4 per cent in December, while rising petrol prices saw service station sales grow by 23.6 per cent. Sales of cosmetics, toiletries & medical goods, wearing apparel & footwear and in department stores increased by between 13 per cent and 17 per cent. 

Online retail sales accounted for 16.3 per cent of transactions – again excluding motor vehicles – with 55.4 per cent of computer and telecom equipment sales online, 28.2 per cent of furniture and homewares sales and 15.3 per cent of supermarket turnover.  

Meanwhile, sales of food & beverage services increased by 7.4 per cent in December – a much faster clip than November’s 1 per cent. 

Online sales accounted for 28.6 per cent of food and beverage service sales, down from 33.3 per cent recorded in November.