A PayPal-commissioned study conducted by Nielsen shows Hong Kongers spent US$1.9 billion on online shopping last year and are expected to spend US$2.5 billion by 2015. "Shopping via mobile devices is creating enormous opportunities in e-commerce for local businesses," Kerry Wong, general manager of PayPal Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan, said. Nearly seven out of 10 Hong Kongers are embracing mobile shopping, according to PayPal.
In particular, a high smartphone penetration rate and the blurring of offline and online commerce are driving growth. At 35 per cent, Hong Kong has the third highest smartphone penetration in the world, ahead of the US, UK, and Japan, according to a Google-commissioned Ipsos survey.
In fact, the Ipsos survey shows that smartphones are now an important part of shopping in Hong Kong. Smartphones now start more purchases as shoppers (53 per cent) begin researching and planning purchases via their mobiles. Thirty-seven per cent have used their smartphones in-store to compare prices between competing retailers. And 20 per cent of shoppers have changed their mind about purchases as a result of what they found.
Also, more transactions are completed than before as people become increasingly comfortable making purchases from their mobiles: 33 per cent have used their phone for purchaes in the past, and and the same number plan to use their phones for more purchases in the future.
This trend is powering e-commerce in Hong Kong, but many merchants have yet to meet the needs of target customers or capture these e-commerce opportunities, according to Ryan Hayward, Google’s product marketing manager.
For starters, Hayward said, many marketers do not have mobile-optimised websites: "That's shutting the door on customers who try to walk into your shop," he said. For example, Hong Kong specialty store Lane Crawford's website has not been re-designed specifically to be viewed on smartphones, he noted. Text can only be read with panning and zooming, and images are slow to load on a mobile connection.
He recommends marketers leverage mobile solutions and formats to engage their customers on the move. This means mobile-friendly websites, simpler checkout processes, and more transactional security in order to sustain mobile shopping behaviour in Hong Kong.
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