What's in? SHOPLINE unveils 4 trends in HK's e-commerce market

The platform said online shopping is steadily growing as its merchants reached over 3.35 million customers in 2022.

SHOPLINE identified four key trends in Hong Kong's online retail market in the post-pandemic era that can better prepare merchants to unlock the potential of e-commerce.

In its whitepaper, SHOPLINE said the omnichannel commerce ecosystem will continue to grow.

Merchants, therefore, will have to accelerate in transforming their businesses to an Online-merge-offline (OMO) business model to allow shoppers to discover, select, pay and collect in whatever way they prefer, from the online store to brick-and-mortar touch points, as well as Facebook / Instagram pages and WhatsApp communications. 

Apart from an OMO model, the platform said chat commerce is also on the rise, saying that communication between merchants and customers through Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp is important.

Merchants said more than seven in ten of their customers (72%) use WhatsApp to contact them.

In terms of the devices shoppers use to purchase online, SHOPLINE said smartphones remain king.

SHOPLINE said 59.5% of orders in 2022 were made through smartphones, which is why the platform believes branded mobile apps will become essential for merchants.

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"Over three-fourths of the surveyed merchants recognised the benefits of launching a branded app, including it becoming a trend in the market (74.9%), encouraging repeat purchases (78.9%), as well as building trust in the brands (76.8%)," the platform reported.

Lastly, SHOPLINE also emphasised the benefits of using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in business operations, as shops that use them have enjoyed a competitive advantage. 

The whitepaper stated that merchants applied AI technologies to enable automated analytics of first-party data from customers to optimise sales strategies.