The annual Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo (HKBPE) has become the signature event held by the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong (CMA). Every year, the expo held at Victoria Park provides a platform for manufacturers to promote their products and for citizens and tourists to purchase goods at bargain prices. The space for booths in the park, however, is limited. Although the duration of the expo is as long as 24 days, it eventually ends. It's a pity there is always less than enough space for more Hong Kong goods to be displayed and sold at the annual expo.

In view of such time and space limitations, after a lengthy period of discussion and preparation the CMA has decided to launch the online HKBPE in October. This will be available 24-7 for customers to break shopping conventions limited by time, locations and weather conditions and shop whenever and wherever they want on the internet.

It might seem a cliche to talk about the fad of online shopping, but I do think Hong Kong can do much better when it comes to promoting online shopping. According to a MasterCard online shopping survey released this March, 84.2 percent of Hong Kong respondents have conducted online purchases in the past three months. The popularization of online shopping is obvious, yet this percentage has only put Hong Kong in ninth place in the Asia-Pacific region, suggesting there is still room for improvement.

The online HKBPE sponsored by the CMA enjoys three competitive advantages: a) Many products are directly manufactured by CMA members; b) many HKBPE participants are brand owners themselves; and c) dealers of exhibited goods are officially authorized by the CMA. This is to say, the online HKBPE will ensure the quality and authenticity of products on sale, which is entirely different from other shopping websites.

There are two objectives to launching this online shopping platform: One is to help small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and the other is to provide convenience to consumers. There is no doubt that online shopping has become a fad; and every vendor knows the benefits of an online platform. But building an online shopping platform requires lots of resources that individual SMEs simply cannot afford.

The CMA, therefore, has founded an Electronic Commerce Industrial Committee to collect information and suggestions relating to the operation of online shops. Members of CMA can join the shopping platform by only paying a small amount in fees. Because of the low cost, I believe many more brands will join the platform and people will have another must-visit website when they want to buy Hong Kong products.

While the business community is putting their own efforts into developing online shopping, the government should help. It can help in at least three areas.

First, the government should improve the IT infrastructure and facilities. Statistics reveal that by the end of 2015, the SAR has provided more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hot spots for free in public places in all of the 18 districts citywide. But these hot spots are still limited to supporting only the 2.4GHz frequency, which is far from a satisfactory, high-speed and stable network as demanded by citizens. If this does not improve in a short time, it will hinder the development of online shopping, as people cannot make purchases whenever and wherever they want.

Second, the security of online payments should be further enhanced. The above-mentioned MasterCard survey also reveals that almost 78 percent of Hong Kong people prioritized the reliability and security of payments in online shopping. For this reason, the government should spare no effort in studying how to build a reliable e-commerce environment and a secure online payment method.

The SAR government should consider establishing Hong Kong as an international logistics center. As we all know, the matching logistics facilities have everything to do with the development of online shopping. And Lantau Island, with the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the airport third runway, has become the best location for the development of a logistics center. In future, Lantau Island can be easily accessed via any mode of transport. It is, therefore, a suitable place for a distribution center that will support domestic and cross-border online shopping business in Hong Kong. The planning of this project should be done soon.

(HK Edition 08/09/2016 page12)