Hong Kong e-commerce start-up Zirkol aims to compete with the city’s wet markets on price

An e-commerce start-up in Hong Kong that saw downloads surge during the city’s fifth wave of Covid-19 infections is hoping to retain users by offering goods cheaper than those sold at local wet markets, as more people in the city start to shop online during the pandemic.

Shopping app Zirkol, founded in July 2020, saw its weekly order numbers jump 500 per cent in the second week of March, according to founder and CEO Samson Ho. On March 2, Zirkol was the second most downloaded shopping app on Hong Kong’s iOS app store.

The surge in downloads and orders came amid panic buying in Hong Kong earlier in the month, when markets and stores were stripped of fresh food and groceries over fears of a potential large-scale lockdown.

“We were really busy [trying] to handle and fulfil all the orders,” Ho said in an interview with the Post, adding that 20 per cent of his staff were out sick when orders increased by five times. “It was a nightmare.”

E-commerce adoption has always been weaker in Hong Kong than in many other developed markets, thanks to the convenience and accessibility of the city’s network of bricks-and-mortar retail stores.

In 2019, online retail sales accounted for only 5.7 per cent of total retail, compared to 10.8 per cent in the US and 34.1 per cent in China, according to a report published in 2020 by the research office of the Legislative Council, the city’s legislature.

But like elsewhere, online shopping in Hong Kong was given a boost by the Covid-19 pandemic. The US International Trade Administration estimates that e-commerce sales in Hong Kong grew 27 per cent in 2020, and that 50 per cent of consumers now prefer online shopping.