CReATION: Hong Kong's surfers succumb to the urge to spend, spend, spend

Online shoppers in Hong Kong spend an estimated HK$87.6 million (about US$11.4 million) a month, an ACNielsen survey has found. While the figure indicates that the Internet is already a billion dollar business in the territory on an annualised basis, the upside potential is still huge since just five per cent of respondents who described themselves as frequent surfers were responsible for the spending spree. "This appears to be the beginning but as people start to feel more comfortable making purchases online, we will likely see spending increase over time," Mr Johnny Tsin, director of customised research at ACNielsen, told CReATION. Online shoppers spent an average of HK$1,152, with 14 per cent spending more than HK$4,000. The ACNielsen survey also found that about 1.6 million people in Hong Kong accessed the Internet once every two days. Frequent Internet users aged 15-34 formed the core of online consumers, accounting for 78 per cent of an estimated 76,000 users. "With this youthful slant, business-to-consumer ecommerce has a very long way to go, because as these young people gain in socioeconomic status so will their spending power grow. "We will soon see a new generation growing up shopping on the 'Net," said ACNielsen executive director of customised research, Helen Lok. One key finding of the survey was that about a third of frequent Web surfers relied on recommendations by friends, relatives or colleagues in choosing Internet sites to visit. Word-of-mouth was even more important than editorial recommendations (22 per cent) and advertising in offline media (18 per cent). "This presents a great challenge to ISPs and portals as they formulate their marketing strategies. "The whole business of websites and portals is so fluid that word-of-mouth travels faster and has a stronger impact on surfers than anything else," said Mr Tsin. "Service providers must have rich and fresh content and quality service to command goodwill."

Sign In

Trouble signing in?

Reset Password: Click here

Contact Customer Support at

Customerservice@campaignasia.com