Why Santa is delivering Hong Kong's Christmas gifts online this year

It's 4 weeks until Christmas and retail is about to become more serious business than ever. Much of our shopping this year will be done online, be strongly influenced by digital or supported with a digital element here in Hong Kong.

At last, ecommerce is on the rise in our city, a welcome development for many businesses who look to the success of China's behemoth ecommerce industry. This shift to online purchasing in Hong Kong is about more than just convenience and busy lifestyles, according to a new report titled Digital Dopamine.

According to the report, we get more excited when online purchases arrive in the mail, than when we buy in store. This is a very interesting stat, and one Hong Kong retailers should take note of as we enter the last 30 days of Christmas shopping.

Along with this, there’s also opportunity for the city's retailers to use the festive season ecommerce boom as a loyalty trigger they can benefit from long term.

Like most things in life, the delayed gratification of ecommerce is more rewarding than the instant quick fix of traditional retail therapy. This may come as a surprise to many, particularly when we're constantly referring to a Hong Kong consumer who 'wants what they want and they want it, now'.

The latest thinking shows this drive for instant gratification isn't always the case.

The great news for Hong Kong marketers is ecommerce presents us with a new avenue for courtship: engineering anticipation. Between purchase and delivery there is a dance to be done. It's the ancient art of flirting, of delaying gratification and letting the mind fill the soul with anticipation.

Marketers who cover both Hong Kong and China can be glad they're already ahead of the curve, 82% of Chinese people are more excited about online purchases than in-store buys.

But this excitement isn't reserved purely for ecommerce. Brands can capitalise on the consumer excitement generated from receiving online purchases and digital communications.

We're all hooked on Digital Dopamine, dopamine is a chemical in the brain, it's that lift you feel when your phone dings or you hear an email drop in your inbox. This is an ingrained positive response and a huge opportunity for marketers.

Particularly in a smartphone-mad market like Hong Kong, marketers must look to engineer anticipation into their brand experience, but never let it get in the way of simplicity and good service.

Christmas gift buying season presents a huge loyalty opportunity for retailers in the online space, because as humans we form habits a lot more quickly online. Christmas trading can set a pattern of purchase for the remainder of the year, a notable opportunity that marketers should also be aware of.

Dr Susan Weinschenk, founder of the Weinschenk Insitute and YouTube's resident "Brain Lady," shares, "People have websites they go to when they shop. They have their 'go-to methods' for buying certain categories of things, and getting them out of that habit once it is set is actually pretty tough. It’s going to take a lot to get someone to switch once a habit has been established."

Loyalty is also driven by good digital experiences. Hong Kong consumers are smart, we don't return to a site or interact with a brand if the experience fails well below our expectation.

While you'd think with such a plethora of choice online that consumers would be fickle, this is not the case. This overload of options and choices means that when we find an experience that works, we're more likely to stay loyal to it.

And that's great news - if you put in the effort to get it right, you are already well ahead of your competitors.