Residents of Hong Kong have been showered with invitations to sales, which typically take place after Christmas, by high-end department stores as well as designers, including Christian Dior, Burberry and Loewe. Discounts on shoes and handbags are as much as 70 per cent.

“Recent seasonal clearance activities show that retailers either have excessive inventories on hand or foreseeable consumption is no longer on the level that was planned,” said Brenda Wang, founder of Brandxcel, a Hong Kong-based consultancy firm that advises luxury brands on operating in Asia.