The growth of Hong Kong e-commerce market has been revised up, considering the positive push due to coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, according to estimates by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s E-Commerce Analytics reveals that the e-commerce market in Hong Kong is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9% between 2019 and 2024 to reach HK$226bn (US$29bn) by 2024.

As consumers are increasingly shifting from in-store to online spending to avoid exposure to disease vectors such as cash and point of sale (POS) terminals, e-commerce payments are set to record a steep increase of 13.4% in 2020.

Ravi Sharma, Banking and Payments Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “While the pandemic led to a decline in consumer spending, this is being partially offset by rise in online spending, as wary consumers continue to stay at home and use online channels to purchase goods. The pandemic has resulted in change in consumer buying behavior too as they are avoiding visiting shopping centers and choosing online platforms for their day-to-day purchases.”

The online rush is expected to benefit popular online payment tools such as AlipayHK, WeChat Pay and PayPal. In addition, leading bank and card companies are launching new products to capitalize on this trend. For instance, on 30 March 2020 Citibank in collaboration with e-commerce provider HKTVmall launched the Citi HKTVmall co-branded credit card to offer exclusive benefits to online shoppers.

In June 2020, Visa launched the eCommerce Starter Package in collaboration with Hong Kong’s leading e-commerce platform Boutir to help small and micro merchants in sellin online and also access Visa credit cards.

Mr Sharma concludes: “Hong Kong has robust e-commerce market with high internet penetration and high preference for online shopping among consumers especially younger demographics. The COVID-19 pandemic further accentuates this shift towards online shopping, supporting the payments market growth in the country.”