With online shopping becoming mainstream, 64 per cent of Hong Kong consumers cite quality of products and services as their top concern when it comes to making purchases online.

According to to Visa’s 2015 eCommerce Consumer Monitor Survey, high shipping costs or hidden charges/taxes (59 per cent) is the next greatest concern. Payment security (53 per cent) is only the third barrier to eCommerce.

The survey found that nearly half (47 per cent) of all shoppers in Hong Kong begin shopping online in one of four categories including bill payments, movies, travel and fashion. Most online buyers purchase in multiple categories – 42 per cent buy online in more than five categories and consumers buy online in 5.2 categories on average a year.

Consumers always make a number of ‘investigative steps’ before buying however Hongkongers said that their most recent online purchase was bought on impulse, particular in fashion and food delivery (for 36 per cent of online purchasers), which is the highest compared to all other markets examined in the survey.

There has been shift towards using mobile devices for eCommerce since 2014. Desktop/laptops are the preferred device for both browsing and online purchasing (62 per cent), but nearly one-third of consumers prefer to use a smartphone for online purchasing – 30 per cent say that a smartphone is their preferred device for online purchases, and eight per cent of online shoppers prefer to use a tablet.

Caroline Ada, country manager of Visa Hong Kong and Macau, says that as familiarity of eCommerce develops and online shoppers are being more mature, payment security concerns are diminishing, especially as payment security innovation and protections continue to evolve to meet consumer needs.