5 reasons why SHOPLINE is a great solution for Hong Kong businesses
More businesses are taking the digital plunge and making a major push towards digitalization. In Hong Kong, e-commerce accounts for US$7,598 million in revenue currently and is expected to grow 10.45% annually in the next 5 years.
If you’re a merchant or entrepreneur in Hong Kong, chances are you’d have heard of SHOPLINE, a fast-growing local e-commerce platform for vendors to receive orders, sell their products and manage their payment transactions.
What is SHOPLINE?
Founded in Hong Kong and touting itself as the Shopify of Asia, SHOPLINE aims to provide businesses with integrated total solutions to grow their business both online and globally.
With key features like product inventory and sales management tools, payment gateways, data analytics, storefront theme designs, and local customer support, sellers have everything they need to build a successful online store.
Why the need to go digital?
Technology is fast-growing and companies need to constantly keep up with the times or they will lag behind. The COVID-19 pandemic has also further changed the operating environment for both big and small businesses.
Digitalising can help small stores supplement their income. For bigger companies, digitalizing can help them communicate, engage, and sell to their customers – on a global scale.
SHOPLINE is a great e-commerce website for companies to kickstart their digitalization journey.
Why is SHOPLINE a great solution for Hong Kong businesses?
- Integration with major social media platforms
SHOPLINE is Facebook’s marketing partner and the first e-commerce platform to partner with Google in Greater China. Using its free Facebook Business Extension integration, merchants can sell on both Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping.
With an increase in sales channels (social media platforms, mobile, and the web) for merchants to list their products on, they have a greater opportunity to expand their customer base, grow their business, and eventually scale their online store.
Better yet, merchants also have access to real-time business and data insights from these platforms to analyze, optimize, and improve their conversions.
- Keeping it lean with scalable features
SHOPLINE prides itself as being an e-commerce platform that is easy to use, which is good news for Hong Kong buyers and sellers who may be less tech-savvy.
Main features: On SHOPLINE, sellers will have a customized domain name and unlimited products listings for them to start their digital store.
Payment and logistics options: A distinct advantage with using SHOPLINE is the official integrations of Payme and SF Express – Two major services that is widely used in Hong Kong and will give you a competitive edge compared to other shops using platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. With various international and local payment gateways well as logistic systems, such as credit cards, Payme, ATM transfer, cash-on-delivery, e-Wallet, SF Express, and SF pick-up points, buying and selling products on SHOPLINE just gets easier.
Pricing: The flat-fee price structure of SHOPLINE is also fair and simple, unlike other e-commerce platforms that take a cut of the merchant’s revenue, effectively penalizing those who sell more products.
On SHOPLINE, Merchants are charged a flat fee per month. They can choose between five different flexible plans, depending on the scale of their business. For example, small businesses are recommended to choose the SCALE plan, while bigger businesses are recommended to use the All-In-One plan. The difference lies in the number and types of features available.
Trial Period: A 14-day free trial, with all features, tools, and services unlocked, is available for sellers. During this period, aspiring online merchants can explore as well as gain a hands-on understanding on how to navigate and use SHOPLINE.
Other features: SHOPLINE also provides advertising service on Facebook and Google, store setup tutorials, marketing seminars, webinars and community events for all entrepreneurs and business owners to connect everyone to a community.
- Unique features for this social age
As e-commerce grows in popularity, traditional retail models no longer work as well as before. Even online, competition for customers is fierce. To stay ahead of the pack, many sellers are coming up with various innovative digital models.
Livestreaming tool: Enter live streaming— a new digital format where hosts showcase their products and allow customers to purchase them in real-time. Audiences can also ask questions and the hosts will answer them on the live stream video. So far, live streaming has been a hit with many buyers due to its intimate, real-time nature, where buyers connect to their customers and present their product as if they are talking to them in-person.
SHOPLINE definitely sees the value in live stream sales. That’s why it integrated a live streaming tool in its platform. Merchants can make use of this live streaming tool to sell their products in real-time on an independent link and/or multi-stream to Facebook simultaneously.
Best of all, sellers can only need to control one admin panel to set up, manage and review multiple live stream rooms.
Conversational commerce tool: Another unique feature on SHOPLINE worth shouting out about is its conversational marketing tool. Different chatbot scripts with pre-set templates are available for sellers to reach their customers via Facebook and LINE, which adds a more personal touch, leading to a higher rate of conversion than e-mail or SMS.
Reputable home-grown e-commerce website with a proven track record
When setting up an online store, you’ll want to find a reliable e-commerce platform to host your products, with ample support provided. After all, the last thing you’d need is to have your website down, with zero help or support available. As Google’s premier partner and Facebook’s marketing partner, SHOPLINE has a team of digital marketing specialists on-hand to help business owners drive traffic and conversions.
Since it was founded in 2013, SHOPLINE have helped over 250,000 merchants reach a customer base of 530 million people. Closer to home, leading Hong Kong companies like Lemon King, Fumble, Hiwalk, Durex, and SNATCH are also using SHOPLINE as their e-commerce platform.
Company-wise, SHOPLINE maintains a strong presence across Asia, with offices in Hong Kong, Taipei, Ho Chi Minh City, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Bangkok.
Getting a digital boost with SHOPLINE
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many businesses to a standstill. You wouldn’t want one of those businesses to be yours. Fortunately, SHOPLINE is available and remains as a great option for businesses looking to grow both online and globally.
