Hong Kong, the gateway to the mainland Chinese market and a central business location in Asia, offers a perfect base for many overseas businesses looking to expand globally. A recent trend we have observed in those scaling up their businesses is the growing number of significant e-commerce players using Hong Kong as a base. Well-known multinational e-commerce companies like Alibaba, Tencent and eBay have long used Hong Kong as a base for their various lines of business. More recently, Invest Hong Kong has seen growth in the number of smaller, entrepreneur-led e-commerce businesses it has helped set up here. Some of them have successfully launched in Hong Kong; others have fallen by the wayside. But all have learned valuable lessons about how to improve their business models for future success. Put simply, e-commerce is about trading in products or services using digital and online networks, including the internet. Hong Kong's long retail tradition and competitive edge in information and communications technology make our city a natural e-commerce hub in this part of the world. For many decades, Hong Kong has been a major trading entrepot, a strength that supports the booming retail sector we see in the city today. International brands have set up showcase shops here to attract the attention of local customers and the business and leisure visitors in Hong Kong, the latter exceeding 60 million last year. Developments in information and communications technology are also encouraging many retailers to change their business models, using various e-commerce channels to enhance their sales and marketing efforts. In Hong Kong, we have the benefits of a free port and open market, plus unfettered access to multiple social media channels, including Western platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Instagram, YouTube, etc) and mainland sites (Weibo, Youku, WeChat, etc). This allows retailers to reach all their customers and market their products and services all over the world from Hong Kong. A recent survey by AC Nielsen shows that four out of five Hong Kong consumers say they will use the internet to research and/or buy non-consumable products online in the next six months. The survey polled more than 30,000 respondents online in 60 countries and suggests that Hongkongers are not being left behind when it comes to shopping online. According to another survey conducted last October by us, of the 37 co-work spaces and incubators operative at the time in the city, 12 per cent of the 1,065 start-ups registering in these premises are in e-commerce or related businesses. We are keenly aware of the move towards "e-tailing". Our teams are reaching out to entrepreneurs in the e-commerce and associated industries, offering assistance to help them consolidate and expand from their base here. I am confident that Hong Kong's economy will continue to reap benefits in terms of the direct and indirect jobs resulting from this digital growth trend and, more importantly, that the new skills and ideas from overseas e-commerce founders will provide an impetus to our own budding entrepreneurs to launch their own e-commerce business. Simon Galpin is director-general at Invest Hong Kong