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PayPal’s Borderless Commerce Report 2022 presents cross-border opportunities to aid Hong Kong businesses in an uncertain economic outlook
In the last three years, it’s been easy to credit, or blame—for the lack of a better word—everything on the global pandemic. The mass standstill that occurred has shifted how we think, work, operate, socialise and consume. QR codes? A mainstay. Digitalisation? Adapt, or die. An impending sense of doom? Well, here’s a quick fix—and this is where consumerism clocks in its step count, hard.
Be it an impulse buy or something they’ve been eyeing for a while, consumers are spending more than ever. According to a Statistica report, online sales worldwide rose by US$700 billion between 2020 and 2021.
In Hong Kong, where strict quarantine measures have had residents staying local, their purchases have travelled beyond borders. PayPal’s Borderless Commerce Report, released in August 2022, reports that 77 percent of online shoppers in Hong Kong have made purchases from international websites, a 4 percent increase from 2021.
The online payment system reports further on how Hong Kong’s merchants can get ahead of the latest trends and better understand consumer behaviours to maintain competitiveness in the global e-commerce market.
Keeping up with consumers
The pandemic has changed the why, how and what of consumer habits worldwide—and here’s where merchants need to keep up.
For example, hybrid models now extend beyond work arrangements into payments as well, where consumers seek flexibility in retailers that offer buy now, pay later options.
While Covid-19 initially distanced people physically, its aftermath has brought relationships closer than ever, reflected in where consumers put their money—into shared experiences. There’s now a bigger need for purpose behind a product as consumers re-evaluate their values, seeking brands that mirror similar social and environmental ethics.
Read more: “Offsets Aren’t Enough”: One Company’s Race To Net Zero Goes Beyond Buying Carbon Credits
The greener grass syndrome
While brands have invested in marketing campaigns throughout the pandemic aimed at supporting locals and rediscovering your own backyard, sometimes it just doesn’t cut it.
PayPal reports a 12 percent increase in consumers who looked abroad for better quality, while a 6 percent increase was evident in those specifically looking for something that wasn’t available in Hong Kong—top locales include USA (38 percent), Mainland China (45 percent) and Japan (40 percent).
Not only are shoppers looking for consumer goods such as clothes and electronics, a number are even looking for groceries abroad in a bid to travel through their tastebuds. Social media, a great discoverability tool, has also exposed Hong Kongers to even more international shopping platforms—a 5 percent increase from 2021.