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Opening up New Markets with Thematic Exhibitions

The brand of "Hong Kong" has always been renowned for its high quality and efficiency. Hong Kong's products and services hold good brand value in the Mainland and across the region.

The popular application of technology and changes in consumption patterns have made it more important to develop online sales. In addition to facilitating enterprises in expanding sales channels and potential client networks, it can also enhance brand visibility and recognition. In Hong Kong, the value of online retail sales grew by nearly 60% to 32.5 billion between 2020 and 2023. However, in 2023, online sales accounted for only 8% of Hong Kong's total retail sales value, compared to nearly 28% in the Mainland during the same year. This indicates significant room for growth.

To help promote the awareness of local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on Mainland electronic commerce (e-commerce) platforms, familiarise them with the industry, culture and operational characteristics of the Mainland online sales market and explore more business opportunities, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) will organise the first edition of the Hong Kong Shopping Festival next month.

I visited the Hong Kong Book Fair on its opening day last Wednesday, and bought a number of books on popular science as gifts for some children there.

The Hong Kong Shopping Festival will be held during the whole month of August on Mainland e-commerce platforms. Over 230 brands have participated in the Festival, covering six major categories including apparel and accessories, personal care and cosmetics, household goods, food and beverage, digital gadgets, and health and wellness products, and offering signature products and discounts during the period. HKTDC will place advertisements on major Mainland social media and e-commerce platforms for drawing higher traffic flow to online stores of Hong Kong enterprises. In late August, HKTDC will also invite about 20 celebrated Mainland livestreaming hosts to conduct live-streaming e-commerce for dozens of brands on major Mainland e-commerce platforms, so as to raise the awareness of Hong Kong products among Mainland customers.

This first edition of the Hong Kong Shopping Festival is expected to bring about positive effects on multiple fronts. On the one hand, it could capitalise on Hong Kong's advantage of enjoying strong support of the Motherland's large-scale market, and assist Hong Kong small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in reaching new Mainland customer groups and developing the Mainland market, thereby injecting new impetus into their business development. On the other hand, it could enable Mainland consumers to directly and conveniently gain access to and purchase quality and value-for-money Hong Kong products. At the same time, the Hong Kong Shopping Festival could help different Hong Kong products tap into the Mainland market more extensively and make Hong Kong brands shine. Earlier, I also took part in the promotional video of the event to support Hong Kong businesses.

I visited the Hong Kong Book Fair on its opening day last Wednesday, and bought a number of books on popular science as gifts for some children there.

This year's Book Fair is held along with the Sports and Leisure Expo and the World of Snacks. The three major events, which have attracted a total of 760 exhibitors, continue to provide an important marketing and sales platform for the industries.

At the same time, we also launched "E-commerce Easy" under the BUD Fund last week, enabling SMEs to make use of at most $1 million funding flexibly for developing the Mainland e-commerce market. SMEs could make use of the funding to establish online stores on online sales platforms, place advertisements, develop or enhance mobile applications, and incorporate online payment options on their websites. In due course, we will expand the funding scope of "E-commerce Easy" to other markets to support the business development of Hong Kong enterprises.

Leveraging technology to enhance operational efficiency, as well as the quality of products and services to better satisfy customers' needs, will facilitate the sustainable development and transformation of retail, food and beverage (F&B) and other service industries. We have allocated $500 million to Cyberport to launch the Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme to assist retail and F&B small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to apply ready-to-use basic digital solutions under the three categories of digital payment and shopfront sales, online promotion, as well as customer management systems etc. to help expedite their digital transformation.

There are currently more than 330 listed solution packages available to SMEs. Take a subsidised small-to-medium sized restaurant for example. It has introduced a management system with QR code ordering and online payment functions. Apart from enhancing the overall efficiency from ordering to food preparation, the restaurant is able to better grasp the daily sales figures and the more popular offerings to adjust their business strategies in a timelier manner.

With the Paris Olympic Games opening this Friday, I also visited the booth of the Hong Kong Sports Institute at the Sports and Leisure Expo to cheer on Hong Kong athletes.

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai has come alive this weekend with three large-scale exhibitions opening simultaneously last Wednesday. The Hong Kong Book Fair, one of the city's annual summer highlights, is the most popular fair of them. The theme of this year's fair is "Film and Television Literature", and more than 600 cultural activities are bringing diverse and extensive reading and cultural experiences to the participants. On the opening day of the book fair, I spent some time shopping between booths, where I found many interesting children's books on science and bought some of them for the children on-site.

Other than the Hong Kong Book Fair, there are also the concurrent Hong Kong Sports and Leisure Expo and the World of Snacks exhibitions. With the Olympic Games in Paris opening on the coming Friday, the sports-themed fairs have gone with a swing. The three exhibitions will be held until this Tuesday, allowing everyone to share the fun of reading, playing sports, and having snacks at the same time. This Friday, the five-day Animation-Comic-Game Hong Kong 2024 will also be kicked off, and more exciting and thrilling events are coming. Through different forums and special exhibition booths, these events with rich content will showcase new products, initiate discussion from multiple perspectives, and gather like-minded friends, to create more experiences for enthusiasts and business opportunities for merchants.

July 21, 2024