Advertisement
Advertisement
Coronavirus pandemic
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Sisters Pam (left) and Amy Yiu splash out on Rolex watches. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong goes on a spending spree as HK$5,000 e-vouchers scheme launches

  • Shoppers splurge on Rolex watches, electronics, gadgets and eating out as digital vouchers spending kick off
  • Government’s HK$36 billion initiative aims to ‘benefit our economy and jobs market’, financial chief Paul Chan says

Spending of the first batch of coupons under the Hong Kong government’s HK$5,000 (US$643) e-voucher scheme kicked off on Sunday with residents across the city going on shopping sprees and flocking to restaurants.

Consumers were seen snapping up everything from Rolex watches to fast food on the scheme’s launch, with malls drawing in crowds through live broadcasts of the Tokyo Olympics.
Electrical appliances and gadgets also proved popular with those taking advantage of the HK$36 billion initiative, designed to boost local spending and accelerate the city’s economic recovery amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

HK$5,000 vouchers: torrent of offers from payment platforms, retailers, restaurants

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po was among early-bird spenders as he urged residents to quickly use the vouchers in areas such as buying gifts or eating out.

“By distributing more than HK$30 billion to the pockets of everyone, people will be spending and hopefully in turn that can benefit our economy and jobs market,” Chan said.

“We also hope the vouchers can promote the trend of electronic payments … We believe overall, the vouchers will have a positive impact. Its concrete impact will be reviewed after the scheme has been rolled out.”

Ray Wong collects his consumption vouchers on Alipay. Photo: Winson Wong

As well as calling on Hongkongers to go out and spend, Chan urged them to get vaccinated against Covid-19 to improve the city’s economic prospects. Hong Kong confirmed three imported cases on Sunday, continuing the run of no local infections for more than 50 days.

Some 5.5 million people, or 75 per cent of the eligible population who had registered before July 17, could start using HK$2,000 worth of e-vouchers from Sunday. Registration remains open until August 14.

At the APM mall in Kwun Tong, shoppers Amy Yiu, 45, and her sister Pam Yiu, 43, used their vouchers via AlipayHK to help cover the price of two Rolex watches costing about HK$110,000 in total.

“My husband will give his HK$5,000 e-vouchers to me, so it feels like I suddenly have HK$10,000 more to spend,” said Amy, a housewife.

“I was thinking before whether I should buy the watch, but this extra sum has pushed me to do it.”

Winnie Wu, 40, collected the vouchers via Octopus and planned to buy a new refrigerator, with her mother already scouting for models a few months ago.

“The fridge my mum picked is a bit more than HK$4,000, so we are going to pool our money together to buy it,” the sales employee said.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan buys breakfast using his vouchers. Photo: Handout

Designer Layla Cheung Kai-yan, 30, planned to buy an iPad for work purposes.

“I might not wait for the second instalment to come before I buy it because I need it for work, it’s more convenient to do presentations on it,” she said. “I think I’m going to buy it sooner or later without the vouchers anyway but it’s nice because it lifts a financial burden off me.”

In Central, Tomona Tam Oi-lam, a 36-year-old teacher, chose to spend HK$2,600 on daily necessities by shopping at a supermarket in the IFC Mall.

“I mostly bought food,” Tam said, adding she used her Octopus card, and it was “very inconvenient” paying at the cashier.

“As I spent over HK$2,000 … I paid the remaining HK$600 with my Visa card,” she said.

Big discounts at restaurants aiming for slice of HK$36 billion scheme

In a bid to draw consumers, the four designated payment service providers – AlipayHK, Octopus, WeChat Pay HK and Tap & Go – have partnered with malls and retail chains to roll out billions of dollars in lotteries and rebates. For example, AlipayHK is offering HK$1.7 billion worth of perks through 100 merchants. It is affiliated with tech giant Alibaba, which owns the Post.

Malls and major retailers joined the giveaway frenzy, with multiple discounts and reward schemes also starting on Sunday.

Residents tap their Octopus cards to collect vouchers at subsidy collection points in Diamond Hill. Photo: Winson Wong
At Hong Kong’s largest shopping centre, Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui, hundreds of shoppers queued to redeem bonus vouchers on offer. This was also the case at sister mall Times Square in Causeway Bay.

Harbour City’s senior manager of promotions and advertising, Andrew Yeung, was stunned by the long queues at reward redemption centres.

“There’s a 10 to 15 per cent increase in foot traffic, and all 2,000 parking spaces were full by noon,” Yeung said, adding stores that sold sports equipment and electronic appliances were especially popular.

The struggling catering sector, meanwhile, launched a campaign on July 15 offering discounts of 30 per cent at participating eateries, to also take advantage of the e-voucher scheme.

Customers queue to redeem bonus shopping coupons in Harbour City. Photo: Dickson Lee

Ray Chui Man-wai, who owns a 30-branch cha chaan teng chain called Kam Kee Cafe and 10 other restaurants, said he had 20 per cent more business than usual.

“Over 80 per cent of the transactions came from the e-vouchers,” said Chui, chairman of industry body the Institute of Dining Art. “I saw people lining up in front of my restaurants when I visited some malls today.”

David Leung Chi-wai, chairman of Seafood Delight Group which has a portfolio of 15 restaurants, said revenue increased 10 to 20 per cent and he described his customers as “generous”.

“We made HK$120,000 today, compared with the usual HK$100,000 per day,” he said.

“People spent HK$250 to HK$260, around HK$50 to HK$60 more than usual.”

In Tin Shui Wai, 69-year-old retiree Lam Sui-mei and her friends were using their e-vouchers from about 8am.

They first went to redeem HK$20 worth of cash coupons through a Circle K convenience store, an offer for those who registered with Octopus, before heading for food.

“We are going to Cafe de Coral for breakfast, and each of us gets another HK$10 cash coupon,” Lam said. “It is great.”

Some smaller shops were also benefiting from the scheme.

Medicine Power owner Daniel Wong. Photo: Winson Wong

In Causeway Bay at Causeway Place, a mall with 160 small businesses, Daniel Wong, owner of ginseng and dried seafood shop Medicine Power, said three customers spent HK$400 to HK$800 with the e-vouchers in the first hour of business.

His shop allowed payments via Octopus and Tap & Go, with Wong expecting a 30 to 40 per cent growth in sales in the coming five months.

The second batch of vouchers will be distributed from October 1, and depending on payment systems, will remain valid until March 31 next year.

The scheme is expected to contribute 0.7 per cent to Hong Kong’s gross domestic product.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Tills ring out as residents start spending e-vouchers
27