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The urge to shop on-line

At one point, Internet portals have been limited to auction sites like eBay. Amazon U.S. success pressed to exit portals U.S. to earth to serve customers in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan and China. Amazon has a gain of U.S. $ 5 million U.S. $ 1 billion in sales.

The 2010 Report on the Nielsen Global Consumer Trends in overall online shopping suggests that books remain the most popular items purchased online. The most interesting is that the price range is not an indicator of success. Airline tickets and electronic equipment seized the third and the fourth most popular items purchased online. The survey also indicates that this trend is increasing.

In March 2010, CSL Limited, a pioneer mobile operator in Hong Kong Cellular has launched what it claims is the online store Special Administrative Region (SAR), primarily selling mobile phones and wireless services.

What makes Hong Kong an attractive place to run an online business? Hong Kong is one of the higher rates of residential broadband penetration in the world with 81% of households, 3.9 million Internet users in total, according to AFP Analytics / Strategy.

Exactly what is driving consumers to buy online? Another reason cited is the convenience. Personally, the first products that started buy books online. At that time, was the high margins for retailers in Hong Kong responsible book asks me to connect. The Internet also has enabled me to get their hands on products that are not available locally (or if they were, the prices were terribly expensive).

Mark Liversidge

CSL Limited marketing director Brand Liversidge said the store's customers mainly for convenience: "The desire for more freedom of choice and a convenient shopping experience where customers can browse and buy at your own pace, from anywhere, anytime. Online shopping enables customers to easily check the latest products information and prices, as well as recommendations from friends or other users in social media. "

But comfort is not the only factor. Usability proved to be a great motivator. The popularity of Apple's iPhone can be attributed to the ease with which consumers are able to dive into the camera without the experience Heavy associated with many consumer electronics devices. In fact Nokia's success can be attributed to the efforts of the company to maintain user-friendly interface use Symbian, a fact that other manufacturers like Motorola mobile phones and Sony Ericsson have been ignored for many years.

As consumers become more sophisticated in their way of life, is also the trend of products that grow in complex technologies such as high definition (HD) or 3D.

Liversidge easily see the increasing use of new technologies that make life that leads to a change in customer behavior. He cites examples such as the iTunes music, interaction with Facebook social and according to eBay as a strong indicator of how technology is changing consumer behavior.

Trade David Boden, Senior Retail sales for Asia Pacific and Japan, Oracle believes that social networking offers an interesting price / performance for online retailers. He predicted that the networks social will be the norm when it comes to participating clients, and mobile devices will be the platform of choice.

Availability Low cost, high Broadband speed is fueling the growth in Web sites that promote online commerce. The growing popularity of online games can also contribute popular acceptance of the Internet as a safe way of doing business.

CSL seen the writing on the wall Online in December 2009, the Internet Network China Information Center (CNNIC) reported a 38.9% increase in online shoppers in China for the first half of 2009 compared to the previous year. CNNIC also 87.88 million is estimated that China spent 26.62 billion dollars in 2009, 79.4% were satisfied with their online experience.

A decade ago, I do not think that the possibility of buying online becomes a possibility in a small place like Hong Kong. But with a highly mobile workforce and lively, convenience and security of online shopping is now gradually feel their presence in the SAR.

Doing business online has been tested with a local startup company, Alibaba, which is presented as the poster child of these opportunities. In Asian societies, such as UNIQLO Japan, China Eastern and China's Xinhua Bookstore, while showing the potential of the Internet as a platform for consumer purchases next.

For CSL, the launch of an online store in March 2010 marked a new chapter March over Hong Kong and quick mobile commerce. Competition for the hearts and minds of seven million Hong Kong has led to high consumer churn and an unreasonable burden on the five mobile operators to find innovative ways to stay relevant in a fickle customer.

"The line one2free completed chain existing retail and telesales channels. Allows CSL to make the best of other customer experience in classes according to the modern lifestyle customer in Hong Kong, providing a shopping experience and information 24 hours a day, every day of the year, with a concrete offer several advantages, "said Liversidge.

Is it mean the end of the brick and mortar retail stores? Boden is low gain of online retailers in what was an almost pure brick and mortar channel. Of course I had mail Ff and salesman. But the true mass market was still dominated by retail stores.

David Boden

Mobile Shopping Finally and take root permanently, forever changing the buying, selling and marketing landscape. It is the way we live today, as retailers are gaining field. Mobile phones are often fashion accessories, but more importantly, they really are everyday items puts on his shoes every day " Boden said.

A catalyst for the growth of online shopping is the social networking phenomenon. Vendors agree that social chatter with the power influence the success or failure of a product or company. The center of power shifted to the consumer.

"Customer feedback, or comment on mass tweets blogs (professional or disadvantages): the views of customers can be very influential in the world. It would risk her and the danger of ignoring this influence a retailer , "Says Boden.

Why online? Fail to offer a less personal commitment? For complex or sensitive, personal approach towards face is probably still the norm. But when the operation is simple and that the consumer knows what he or she wants, more discreet, less public channel is probably the best approach. And that's what the Internet offers.

Boden says less, but customers want more substantial financial commitments. So how does commitment less frequently but more deeply? The response in the analysis of technology. In short, Google Analytics can help analyze sales data, data response rate, and so on, to continually improve the messaging and offers that lead to greater success.

It may be something here.

About the Author

Current I am the content director and web strategist for Questex Asia Ltd. I also have 6 years of Marketing and Communications experience with Hitachi Data Systems in Asia. Other prior stints include senior industry analyst for Dataquest (a Gartner Group brand) and account director at Euan Barty Associates – a PR firm in Hong Kong.

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