The Internet has changed the world dramatically over the last few years. Back in 1997, the Internet in Hong Kong was predominantly used for business communications and consumer research but as the technology evolved and bandwidth became increasingly cheaper and faster, it transformed from an information repository to an integrated part of the way we work and live. We all browse the web to search for restaurants, find great travel deals, communicate with friends and family, and shop for great deals from group-buying sites.

 Social networking sites have no doubt become the most popular platform through which to connect with friends and for everyday communications. The sites provide a number of opportunities for brands to engage with people in a two-way conversation, monitor what consumers and their peers say in chat and social forums about their products, and provide targeted advertising opportunities to acquired new customers based on stated preferences, likes, and lifestyle choices

 According to the data collected by Experian Hitwise, people in Hong Kong are more closely following China websites than ever before. They visit Taobao to look for great deals and at the same time go to PPTV and Weibo to have a direct connection with celebrities’ and get their fix of entertainment’ news in China first-hand. This supports the development of a closer relationship between the people of Hong Kong and Mainland China in the 15 years since handover.

 In addition, while mobile phones in 1997 were solely used for voice and SMS, people nowadays use a wide variety of mobile devices to browse the Internet and increasingly mobile commerce. Experian Hitwise shows that there is 60 times more traffic to Youtube from mobile devices compared to three years ago. Companies therefore need to make sure their websites are optimized for mobiles in order to maintain interaction with their consumers.

Lastly, people in Hong Kong are demanding more media-rich content compared to the largely text-based content 15 years ago. Youtube is the fastest moving site and we predict that visually rich media will continue to dominate the web – Pinterest and Instagram are great examples. Businesses should follow online trends and create media-rich content to cater to consumers’ preferences.  When developing content for their marketing campaigns and even forecasting product demand, they should take advantage of online analytics data to keep track of the products and categories of interest that are top-of-mind amongst consumers.