E-tailers fail to satisfy

Hong Kong's e-tailers are struggling to keep pace with the SAR's shoppers, as spenders are becoming intensely dissatisfied with their online purchases, according to a survey by ACNielsen. The researcher surveyed 1,000 people in the SAR and found "very satisfied" and "quite satisfied" shoppers fell from 87 per cent in January to 64 per cent in August this year. The number of online shoppers during that period held steady at 5 per cent. The figure of disappointed shoppers, which cited slow or non-existent delivery, was at 77 per cent. Meanwhile, 37 per cent of shoppers failed to receive the goods ordered. Industry analysts attributed the poor performance to an ineffective delivery infrastructure and convenient access to retail outlets. Other complaints by Hong Kong's online shoppers included the inability to see products before making a purchase at 23 per cent, failure to accept returned goods at 11 per cent and comparatively high prices at eight per cent. The most popular goods, according to ACNielsen, were groceries. Almost 50 per cent of the people shopping online in August bought food or household items in the previous 12 months, up from 20 per cent in January. The survey found surfers shopped online for groceries at least once every two weeks, pushing average annual online spending up 30 per cent to HK$3,600 per customer, equating to a market sales value of over HK$800 million. Johnny Tsin, senior consultant, ACNielsen.online Hong Kong, said: "Putting it into context, 1999 retail sales in Hong Kong were about HK$180 billion, so there's still a long way to go before we realise the potential for business to consumer e-commerce. "But if current dissatisfaction levels are an indicator, as demand for e-shopping grows online, retailers are going to be under tremendous pressure to deliver the goods and meet the growing expectations of our online shoppers."

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