Taobao Hong Kong head: The transaction volume during the New Year goods festival doubled compared to daily sales, with significant growth in the past half month

Alibaba (09988.HK) Taobao Hong Kong will hold the "Taobao New Year Goods Festival" promotional event from January 4 to February 11 this year. Ding Zhen Cai, the head of Taobao Hong Kong and Macau, stated that the duration of the event has been extended compared to previous years, aiming to assist Hong Kong residents in purchasing quality New Year goods. He revealed that both the transaction volume and transaction value during this year's festival have doubled compared to normal, with a more significant increase in the past two weeks, which he believes is due to the approaching Lunar New Year, prompting citizens to accelerate their purchases of clothing, food, and home decorations to celebrate the occasion. Additionally, furniture has also been popular among Hong Kong users, with a monthly increase of about 50% in large furniture transactions over the past month.

He emphasized that the policy of offering free shipping without a minimum purchase to pickup points and lockers, which was trialed since August last year, will continue this year. He pointed out that the offline retail market in Hong Kong has matured, and Taobao does not intend to seize offline retail market share. He also mentioned that competition among peers is inevitable, but he believes there is still room for growth in Hong Kong's online retail market and hopes to expand the market size together with other e-commerce peers, each attracting more citizens to try online shopping in their own ways.

Last year, Taobao Hong Kong partnered with the one-stop home repair platform Papabo to open the PapaHome Taobao furniture physical store in Tsim Sha Tsui, with a second flagship store in Causeway Bay expected to open in June this year. Ding Zhen Cai stated that the store will add cultural and creative as well as dining elements, and in the future, they will consider adding clothing categories, aiming to become a new lifestyle experience destination for Hong Kong residents, with trial operations expected by the end of May