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PRHK Event Summary: Retail Communications

January 15th 2021


PRHK Event Summary: Retail Communications

Date: November 26, 2020

 

Amidst the Singles’ Day, Black Friday and Christmas shopping festivals PRHK Deputy Chair, Annouchka Behrmann, head of brand, Edelman Hong Kong, chaired a timely discussion of trends shaping the Hong Kong and Greater China retail landscape both online and offline. Giving their expert perspectives were retail and e-commerce executive Eddie Chan, director of Retail in Asia magazine Esterina Nervino and consultant Pascal Martin, partner OC&C Greater China.

 

With the event following hot on the heels of 11/11, marketing strategies around shopping festivals was a major focus for discussion. The panelists noted that, over time, strategies have shifted. No longer a way to offload old stock, shopping festivals can be used as vehicles to build brands and find new customers without a retail presence on online marketplace platforms being a prerequisite. Indeed, fueling the interplay of online-to-offline experiences is a year-round sales driver, especially for this region’s higher spending younger consumers. With the ongoing pandemic putting heightened pressure on rent returns, retail brands are thinking creatively how to use their bricks and mortar spaces more effectively. In China, this is yielding some innovative partnerships to overcome perennial e-commerce challenges like last mile delivery, for instance. While in Hong Kong, value brands are now taking prime positions in premier shopping districts to better cater to the needs of local shoppers who were previously neglected in favour of higher spending tourists. It is local spending that is going to drive the recovery of Hong Kong’s retail sector for the foreseeable future.