Guangzhou shoppers with a taste for imported consumer products can now get their goods duty free on Beijing Road. The question is, are these products really any different from what is already available on the mainland? Since the opening of Hong Kong City in January, local shoppers have had the chance to buy genuine products from the special administrative region without having to pay the hefty taxes usually associated with such purchases. The new centre, the result of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (Cepa), has been set up to showcase Hong Kong goods. Spread over two floors, its products include small consumer items such as cosmetics, body-care products, scented candles, jewellery and women's accessories. It is a labyrinth of small stalls, most of which are still empty. But the stalls that are operating are mostly crammed with goods priced close to mainland products. 'This place is more suited to young people,' said Chen Ji Jian, 50, who went to the centre with friends for the first time last month. While most consumer goods are already produced on the mainland, the architects of Cepa hope that the novelty of places such as Hong Kong City will at least even the playing field for SAR manufacturers who have suffered considerable losses due to cheaper mainland labour costs. However, not all shoppers are convinced that the items are genuinely imported, especially some of the men's and women's clothes. 'They don't look like they are from Hong Kong at all,' said Wendy Zhao, another local shopper. Still, some people are satisfied with the variety of products. 'You can find everything here,' said Eva Reinann, from Germany. 'It's also not too crowded. You can see everything.' The centre is the first of what is hoped will become a series of stores in the region that sells Hong Kong products directly to consumers. The scheme is also expected to stimulate manufacturing enterprises in the SAR. The problem is that most of the world's low-tech consumer products are already produced on the mainland and sold in outlets across Guangdong. Also, wholesalers such as Macro and WalMart have, by now, set up shop in the province and offer a greater variety of imported goods at competitive prices. If the people who created the Cepa shopping scheme really want to make it attractive to mainland shoppers and beneficial to the SAR, they should shift the focus to high-end information technology products. These are the kind of gadgets that local shoppers with spending power are interested in, not perfume and make-up. But two things will have to change in order for that to happen. Hong Kong has to further develop its IT manufacturing, and the mainland will have to eliminate its tax on cross-border electronic goods.
