Top Hong Kong Retail Trends to Know About

The retail industry was majorly disrupted throughout the peak of the pandemic on a global scale.

Specifically in Hong Kong, many retailers had to close their physical stores or vacate their spaces. When retail began to pick up again, there was opportunity for various retailers, even from outside of Hong Kong to set themselves up, creating new retail spaces and an overall new environment in many popular retail precincts in Hong Kong. Although things are still on a slow pace to ‘getting back to normal’ there are some trends we can see taking place in the retail space for 2022 to 2023 and beyond. Here are our insights:

A strong combination of physical and digital retail emerges

Retailers who adapted to e-commerce during the pandemic will continue to use this to their advantage whilst still working to operate in physical stores, creating ultimate access to their brand and business.

Classical retailers will continue to expand their businesses and partner with e-commerce companies, and vice-versa so that brand reach is multiplied. This will help with:

• Creating new customer bases

• More innovative products and services

• Further customer engagement and convenience

• New opportunities for digital brands to test out a brick-and-mortar presence

New opportunities for creative endeavours and smaller companies

As mentioned above, new opportunities are arising as businesses are willing to work together to maximise their reach. This means brand collaborations, new product innovation from classical retailers and more. Plus, as store rental prices have dropped, smaller companies are given the chance to try and create physical shopping experiences for their customers, when they might otherwise have remained online only, limiting interaction between their products and their customers.

Physical stores to come back strong and assist with supply chain issues

You may have noticed the increase in ‘click and collect’ concepts during the pandemic. This helps with the cost of transportation for many businesses. Other ways that physical stores can help impact the supply chain include:

• In-store return capabilities

• In-store online ordering for items that they don’t have in stock

• Growth in picking up customer orders from stores

• Creating stores with a digital-physical hybrid experience

• Automating check out systems in stores

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) become more important

Have you noticed that all over the world, commercials are becoming increasingly focused on the values of a brand, primarily including their environmental and social impacts? We don’t see this concept slowing down as new generations become increasingly aware of the footprint they are leaving on the world. There is a big shift in customers being attracted to use ethical and conscious brands. Companies will step up, and all retail brands will have to involve themselves in a cause close to their heart to make sure they are aware of ESG concerns. ​