As Hong Kong shoppers flock to Shenzhen’s megastores for bulk-buy bargains, can city retailers fight back?
- Membership warehouse retailers draw city shoppers by the busload, strong Hong Kong dollar helps too
- High rent and labour costs make it hard for megastores to set up in Hong Kong without government help
Hongkongers have taken to bulk-buying everything from tissue paper to snacks and electrical appliances in mainland China, lured by cheap deals at massive members-only megastores offering a wide variety of products.
Retail sector observers urged Hong Kong authorities to offer incentives to attract megastores to set up in the city or risk losing out to Shenzhen.
Google Trends showed that online searches from Hong Kong for Sam’s Club – an American membership warehouse retailer that opened its first mainland outlet in Shenzhen more than 27 years ago and now has four megastores there – began surging two months ago and peaked over the New Year weekend.
Costco Wholesale’s new store, which opened in Shenzhen’s Longhua district on Friday, fuelled Hongkongers’ bulk buying frenzy, with Google online searches for it outstripping those for Sam’s Club last week.
The stronger Hong Kong dollar against the yuan has also helped make shopping across the border more attractive.
IT worker Stephen Yu Kam-fung, 36, said he visited Sam’s Club outlets about six times in recent months to snap up bargains.
He said he made significant savings on his most recent shopping spree last week, when he filled two large trolleys with bulk-bought tissue, four bath towels, three jars of laundry detergent pods and delicacies such as roast chicken.
