Leading chains report wide acceptance of shopping from the on-line supermarket

HONG KONG households are catching on to grocery shopping over the Internet, now the biggest SAR supermarkets have launched on-line shopping services.

The Park'N Shop cyberstore opened for business at the end of May, and response has been phenomenal, according to Park'N Shop marketing director Andrew Brent. 'It is surpassing our expectations,' he said.

The new cyberstore joins on-line versions of City Super, Jusco Stores and Wellcome Supermarkets in Hong Kong, where an estimated 500,000 people have access to the Internet. None of the chains would disclose the size of its on-line customer base, but all said shoppers were taking to the service in increasing numbers.

Net surfers select the items they want from their supermarket's Web site, submit the order on an electronic form and receive a delivery to their doorstep. Shoppers pay when they receive the goods or an invoice, avoiding the security problems of dealing with money on-line.

Wellcome, which launched its Internet service in July 1996, said numbers of shoppers had doubled each year. Wellcome's loyalty-marketing manager Rachel Lee Ching-han said the service had taken off once people overcame concerns about security.

Park'N Shop and Wellcome offer wide selections of goods on-line, including dairy products, vegetables and alcoholic beverages. Wellcome carries more than 2,000 items, and Park'N Shop says it has about 4,000 product lines. Both admit some items are not available in cyberspace - such as ice cream - but the range is still larger than in many smaller neighbourhood stores.