The Mainland China e-commerce market has been the world’s largest online retail market for 11 consecutive years, with online retail sales surpassing RMB15 trillion last year, an 11% year-on-year increase.
To help Hong Kong businesses, especially SMEs, seize opportunities in this vast market, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) held the first Hong Kong Shopping Festival on mainland e-commerce platforms in August.
The Festival gathered over 230 Hong Kong-based brands, covering six main categories - clothing and accessories, personal care and cosmetics, home goods, food, toys, and health and wellness products.
Online shoppers took advantage of discounts and enjoyed real-time demonstrations of products by well-known influencers on major e-commerce platforms, including TikTok, Taobao, Tmall and JD.com.
Many Hong Kong participants said that the event helped them overcome obstacles to entering the mainland market and gain valuable practical experience.
Enkang International is a Hong Kong-based gut health food company with its own brand, Chang Jian Le. Since it primarily operates through online stores listed on Hong Kong’s e-commerce platforms, its main focus to date has been on the Hong Kong market. The company planned to enter the mainland market, but held back due to their limited market understanding and having few resources to spend on extensive promotion.
Lin Yihong, Co-Founder of Enkang International, said that through the Shopping Festival the company achieved wide promotion at low cost and mastered the essentials of live selling. He noted that since influencers have many existing followers, livestreaming introductions of their company’s products by influencers helped their company quickly gain trust and establish a position in the market.
The local children’s creative fashion brand Ambidexter® focuses on the design and production of safe products for babies and children. Since 2017, the brand’s products have been sold in HKTDC’s Design Gallery (DG) branch store and online store hosted on JD.com and Taobao. The brand has been operating in the mainland market for many years, however, it still faced challenges in inventory management, shipping and handling finance and invoicing issues.
Ming Chen, Founder of Ambidexter®, said that the Shopping Festival was a valuable event that helped his company expand its consumer base and explore new opportunities. Following this event, the company hopes to try more livestreaming sales events and will adapt its product designs to meet mainland demand, for example introducing modular designs to allow consumers with a sustainability mindset to mix and match products.
BHAWÁ - meaning “state of being” – is a Thai spa brand. After successfully entering the Hong Kong market through offline sales, the brand’s exclusive Hong Kong distributor hoped to tap into the vast mainland market. However, unfamiliarity with mainland customs procedures posed a significant challenge.
Marco Ng, the manager of BHAWÁ’s exclusive Hong Kong distributor, said that for foreign brands entering the mainland market, Hong Kong serves as an ideal launchpad due to its similar consumer profile with the mainland.
The company first listed its products on DG’s JD.com store and then participated in the Shopping Festival to further expand their promotional channels. Along the way, the company has accumulated valuable experience, which will prepare them to set up online stores and conduct livestreaming on platforms like WeChat and Taobao.
Whether for new products or established brands, the Hong Kong Shopping Festival supported Hong Kong SMEs to experiment, adapt and gain experience in their quest towards tapping into the vast customer base of mainland e-commerce platforms.
