Retail Blues

Where are the shoppers and the lines in front of luxury brand boutiques?

The Hong Kong retail industry is in a slump because its core customers, wealthy mainland Chinese are not coming in droves anymore. They either can't be bothered with the negative experiences they have in the city, or find better deals for luxury brands elsewhere like Europe.

So who has to make up for the slack? The local market. More than 10,000 shops, restaurants and tourist attractions are offering discounts or promotions to local residents.

In the HAPPY@hongkong Super Jetso campaign that starts April 27 to May28, shoppers can get coupons if they spend a certain amount of money, or special deals for locals staying in hotels here.

Tommy Li Ying-sang, convenor of the campaign, said he has not estimated how many businesses will be offering "locals only" promotions.

"Let me stress again that the principle [of the campaign] is to create a happy shopping atmosphere. We welcome both locals and tourists," he said.

Creating a happy atmosphere? How about making sure staff serve customers with a smile?

Hong Kong is one of three places in the world where customers are unlikely to see smiles on shop staff's faces in a survey of mystery shoppers.

The city was ranked 39 out of 41 countries in a "smiling index" of the service sector conducted by the Mystery Shopper Service Association last year.

Around 2,000 mystery shoppers visited shops around Hong Kong specializing in 40 different products and only found 48 percent of service staff smiled at them.

In the bottom three ranking, Hong Kong was ahead of South Korea at 47 percent, and Slovenia at 46 percent.

Meanwhile at the top was Ireland at an impressive 97 percent, followed by Greece and Puerto Rico sharing third spot at 93 percent.

When it came to greeting customers, Hong Kong was in second last place at 58 percent, and Macau at the bottom with 53 percent.

It's quite ironic that Hong Kong, which depends so heavily on the retail industry here and the customer service is appalling. Perhaps this is why Hong Kong's retail sales numbers are so bad?

Anders Wong Siu-leung, chief executive of the Hong Kong Mystery Shopper Service Association, said long working hours and pressure were among the reasons front line staff didn't smile.

How about it's because the hours are long and pay is not appealing so people treat it as a job than as a passion? Not many people in Hong Kong derive joy from serving others. But if service staff smiled more than maybe -- just maybe -- they'd ring up a few more sales?

Are HK Children Happy?

Children at the Hong Kong Book Fair stocking up on their favourite reads

The lives of Hong Kong's next generation are not getting better, according to the child happiness index by Lingnan University.

The study was commissioned for the second year by the Early Childhood Development Research Foundation, surveying 1,119 students aged eight to 17 from September to October 2013.

The happiness index rose from 6.91 in 2012 to 7.23 last year, with the index maximum at 10.

However, the scores fell when it came to insight and fortitude -- two of the four determinants for happiness. The other two are love and engagement.

Researchers saw a decline in fortitude to 6.64 out of 10 from 7.10. They said it was "worrying and should be attended to" as it indicated children may not know how to deal with situations that did not meet their expectations.

Lead researcher professor Ho Lok-sang said the decline was "rather significant".

"There were several children who committed suicide last year, which showed that the resilience of some of our children is quite weak," he said. "Parents should guide their children, starting from an early age, [on] how to deal with pressure, as it is a major source of unhappiness."

To grade their fortitude, children surveyed were asked to respond to statements such as "you have the courage to face difficulties" and "you won't give up easily once you have decided to do something".

In order to test their insight -- an ability not to compare themselves with others and learn from their mistakes -- they were asked to respond to statements like "we don't need to be better than others, but need to try our best".

The results for insight dropped from 6.37 in 2012 to 6.19.

In addition the survey found children from poorer families tended to be unhappier. "When children want to take part in some extra-curricular activities but their parents do not have enough money to support them and ask them not to do that, there may be some conflicts within the family, thus making children unhappy," Ho said.

The study also found the children suffered pressure from schoolwork and extra-curricular activities, which could adversely impact children's happiness.

It's a sad state of affairs when children aren't perceived to be happy because things get  more complicated when you get older. If children cannot handle the pressure that is imposed on them now, they will find it even harder to deal with stress as they grow up.

That said children in Hong Kong are deprived of childhoods with parents signing them up for all kinds of extra-curricular activities from the age of 18 months in the hopes that will give their children an edge in being accepted in schools.

Many parents know they aren't giving their kids enough play time and yet the guardians get sucked into the rat race of keeping up with the Joneses because they would feel guilty if they didn't push their child enough to get the best education.

Which is why we will see this happiness index go down further with each passing year and children will have every right to blame their parents for their unhappiness...

Hong Kongers are Not Happy

Bright lights, big city, but lots of unhappy people in Hong Kong

A survey done by market research company Ipsos has found Hong Kong people are far more unhappy than their mainland cousins.

Most of the Hong Kong people interviewed said they work too hard and are paid too little, and they are pessimistic about everything from air quality to relationships.

Less than one-quarter of the respondents felt their living standard had improved in recent years, which contrasts with 66 percent on average of mainlanders saying their lives were better.

Perhaps the only things Hong Kong people were pleased about was the medical system and food safety.

Chinese University political scientist Dr Ma Ngok said the results weren't surprising. "Hong Kong's happiness is lower than most places in the world," he said. "Life is hard and it is a very stressful city. A lot of people are unhappy with living standards and the air quality."

The other Chinese cities surveyed were Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Xian, Wuhan and Chengdu. A total of 2,400 people aged 20 and above took the online poll, that was conducted before the recent spate of serious air pollution in Shanghai.

One of the major factors was money, with only 22 percent in Hong Kong reporting they were happy with their income, while it was 42 percent in China.

Part of it is because on average Hong Kong people work 48 hours a week compared to 41.5 hours per week on the mainland.

Of those questioned in Hong Kong, the median monthly household income was HK$22,000 ($2,837) where the minimum monthly wage was HK$15,000, whereas in China it was 5,000 yuan ($822.50) in first-tier cities, 4,000 yuan in second-tier municipalities.

Here in Hong Kong there are definitely hordes of miserable people walking the streets. But that's because regardless of their pay, their bosses are working them to the bone.

One of my friends has a good paying job, but she's been so busy organizing events for her clients that she's had practically no sleep for the past few months. While she said she got seven hours' of sleep, she woke up every hour thinking about work.

In the other extreme there are restaurant wait staff making minimum wage who show no interest in placating customers, which means just getting your order within a reasonable amount of time without a smile is already considered good service.

Hong Kong bosses continue to squeeze more and more out of their employees because they themselves are getting more pressure from management or their clients who are demanding more for their buck.

The pressure and frustration trickles down to the point where people's physical and mental well being are adversely affected. One of my colleagues worked seven days' straight doing two people's work -- and ended up in hospital with the flu complete with lots of tension stored in her neck.

Meanwhile on the mainland salaries keep rising (though inflation does too), but when they compare to what they used to earn before, on the whole they are relatively pleased with their financially mobile status.

While for most young mainland Chinese the acquisition of a flat is still way beyond their reach, they can afford to go abroad, or buy luxury brand handbags or clothing.

Hong Kong people have always been at this stage and want more -- their own home -- which is understandable.

But the more they work, the more they feel they aren't getting anywhere and hence the pessimism...