Opinion | Hong Kong e-commerce festival could boost retailers

Every year on November 11, China hosts the world’s largest online shopping festival, an extravaganza where some of the largest e-commerce companies offer big discounts on their platforms. The entire country is going crazy online. Now Hong Kong wants a piece of the big pie. It’s high time.

The city’s first e-commerce shopping festival will launch next month. While traditional retail has been hit hard by the pandemic, the local online shopping sector is booming. It grew by almost 60 percent to HK$32.5 billion between 2020 and 2023, yet the online sector still accounted for only 8 percent of total retail sales.

The Hong Kong Shopping Festival will be hosted by the Trade Development Council (TDC) on mainland e-commerce platforms, aiming to expand the city’s brands to the vast mainland consumer market.

Local small and medium-sized businesses should find TDC’s new service helpful in gaining exposure overseas. They need a helping hand. Local retail sales were sluggish, falling 11.5 percent year-on-year to HK$30.5 billion in May, after falling 14.7 percent in April. Another double-digit decline was blamed on the continuing trend of local consumers spending abroad.

If there aren’t enough mainland customers coming to Hong Kong, Hong Kong will have to go to them. TDC’s campaign will help more than 230 city brands – across fashion, beauty, homeware, food and drink, digital and health – promote their special offers on major mainland social and e-commerce platforms, as well as online influencers.

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, told city officials that all local sectors must take proactive measures to transform the economy to ensure the financial hub’s “golden brand” continues to shine.

Beijing raised the duty-free shopping limit for mainland tourists to Hong Kong and Macau to HK$16,100 per trip and expanded the individual visits program to 59 mainland cities. Hong Kong may be complaining about a difficult external environment. But all the movement from the north is helping to steady the ship.