Online shopping booms in Hong Kong

Number of shoppers surges 530% in 10 years.

A recently released GfK Retail to e-tail survey reveals the number of persons in Hong Kong who shop online grew from 218,000 in 2002 to 1.38 million in 2012. The survey said this massive growth was due to the increasing number of consumers who use personal computers, smartphones and tablets.

Technology and the availability of digital access devices has prodded more users to shop online since it saves them from standing in queues and other problems common to purchasing from brick and mortar shops.

The GfK Retail to e-tail survey was conducted earlier this year via an online questionnaire and included responses from interviewees aged between 18 to 65 years.

The survey showed that 54% of respondents used at least three platforms to do their research before making a decision to purchase online. More than four in five online shoppers used either their laptop or desktop computer; more than half used smartphones and 40% used their tablets.

Clothing, accessories and shoes are the top three online shopping categories followed by handbags, facial skincare products and books. Other popular products are hotels, flight tickets and electronic products.

A third of the online shoppers spent from US$25 to US$64 in each transaction. This amount was spent mainly on clothing, accessories and shoes. Some 80% of total online purchases were for items costing less than US$128.