Online shopping may be next big hope for depressed Hong Kong retail sector
Some media experts think city has a lot of potential to expand ‘e-tailing’ if it improves content and transaction efficiency
According to research firm eMarketer, global e-commerce – also known as e-tailing – will exceed US$2.3 trillion this year, making up 10 per cent of total retail sales. That percentage is expected to grow to 14.6 per cent in 2020.
But while online shopping makes up just 5 per cent of total sales in Hong Kong, some media experts think the city has great potential for expansion if it improves content and transaction efficiency.
“As a major world city, online shopping in Hong Kong is too low,” said Deric Wong, CEO of the Hong Kong arm of global media communication firm OMD.
“There are lots of people surfing the internet and visiting websites for products and companies. They may want to buy a product, but usually they prefer to go to the physical shop to buy it. And then something happens – they forget about the product altogether.”
He said the problem was that current websites lacked efficient content to trigger a buying decision, and the transaction mechanism for making a purchase was either non-existent or inefficient.
