Rising ownership of the three screens—personal computers, smartphones and tablets—in Hong Kong has made electronic-retail more convenient and accessible. According to market institute GfK's 'Retail to e-tail' survey, the number of online shoppers grew from 218,000 in 2002 to 1,383,000 in 2012. Intensifying migration to 3G/4G LTE networks and the increasing adoption of smartphones with larger screen sizes has fuelled the growth momentum of mobile-commence.
While personal computers are the most common platform used for online shopping, more than half of respondents used smartphones to shop and 40 per cent have done so using their media tablets. The adoption rate of smartphones among Gen-Y for online shopping is the highest.
Among the top 10 online shopping categories, clothing came out top, followed by accessories, shoes, handbags, facial skincare products, books, hotels, flight tickets, and electronic products. While 21 per cent of online shoppers spent HK$1,000 or above during each transaction, over 80 per cent was on items costing below HK$999.
Over half of respondents used three or more platforms to research their intended buys before making their online purchases. Search engines, social media and discussion forums are the top three channels for obtaining word-of-mouth references.
Magazines, official websites of companies and TV are also key sources for product information. The GfK 'Retail to e-tail' survey was conducted via an online questionnaire using multiple but non-duplicating panel sources. Nearly 2,000 interviews were completed in January and 4,054 in April 2013. Interviewees ranged from aged 18 to 65 years old, with a quota imposed on gender.
