Two seminars titled ‘Expelling E-retailers’ biggest headache: turning digital followers into real dollars’ and ‘Gateway to the World: The Power of e-Payment’ were held on 13 April 2016 during the International ICT Expo organised by the Hong Kong Development Council.
The first seminar, given by Horace Ng, head of e-commerce, Yahoo Hong Kong, provides an overview of the online retail market in Hong Kong. In a survey commissioned by Yahoo Hong Kong among 1,000 people with online shopping experience, 84 percent of respondents use mobile devices to shop. Ninety percent of them use mobile shopping apps once every week. Ng also observed a growing online-to-offline trend in the retail business as more customers are expecting to get goods from brick-and-mortar stores after making their purchases online.
The survey also provides information regarding online shoppers’ expectation of the type of goods they wish to be available for online purchase in the next five years. Apart from restaurant coupons, hotel accommodation, tickets to performances and exhibitions and apparel that are expected by all age groups, in the age group below 30, they are also looking for bags and accessories. Among customers between 30 and 50, they are expecting to purchase mobile phones and mobile phone accessories, office stationery and books and bags online. For those who are over 50, they are looking for mobile phones and mobile phone accessories, home cleaning products, and sports and fitness equipment.
The second seminar, given by Sean Huang, senior business development manager of Worldpay, shared data collected from the fastest growing online retail markets: China, Russia and Brazil, which record a growth of 27.0 percent, 15.3 percent and 13.5 percent respectively compared to 2015.
In 2013 China’s total online sales reached US$307 billion, surpassing the US to become the world’s biggest online retail market. The Chinese online retail market is dominated by major marketplaces like Tmall and JD.com. It is expected that the number of online buyers will reach 804 million by 2019. Chinese customers seek out foreign brands for better quality and brand status, and 70 percent of them are under 35. In terms of payment method, the most popular choice is e-wallets such as Alipay, followed by bank transfer and credit cards.
In Russia, online retail grew by over 25 percent in 2013 to US$2 billion with 30 million active online shoppers. Consumers are typically price sensitive with low consumer trust and low brand loyalty. Regarding payment choice, cash on delivery is the most preferred, followed by e-wallets.
Brazil represents 70 percent of the retail market in Latin America. The online retail market of Brazil is mostly driven by the middle class. Shoppers have high concerns with online security with low trust in delivery, product condition and payment. Regarding payment, credit cards are the most popular option, followed by post-pay cash such as Boleto.
Huang reminded businesses that plan to enter these markets to pay attention to localising web platform, tailoring to consumers’ preference of payment and spending habits, tax laws, local culture and currency fluctuations to avoid basic mistakes.
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