Survey: Nearly half of HKers expect seamless cross-platform shopping experience

Over half of consumers will stay loyal to brands that provide a unified commerce experience, such as the ability to buy online and return in-store, according to a survey from Ayden.  

The survey, conducted by Adyen, polled over 41,000 consumers and over 14,000 retail merchants globally across 28 markets, including over 1,000 consumers and 500 retail merchants across Hong Kong. 

The survey revealed that nearly half (48%) of local consumers expect seamless cross-platform shopping experience, including social media, websites, and mobile apps. 

Additionally, 38% place high importance on smooth return and exchange processes across online and offline channels, ranking it as their top feature they hope merchants will implement in 2025. 

Retailers that offer a truly unified commerce experience stand to gain loyalty and repeat business. Over half (56%) of local consumers would stay loyal to retailers that allow online purchases with in-store returns, while 54% prefer brands that offer home delivery for out-of-stock in-store items. 

In fact, the checkout experience is increasingly essential for a frictionless shopping journey. According to the survey, 60% of Hong Kong consumers will abandon their purchases over slow payment.  

In response, 97% of local merchants now actively track the speed of checkout, with 60% reporting that in-store checkouts take less than five minutes, demonstrating merchant recognition of pain points. 

Additionally, 58% of Hong Kong consumers will walk away if their preferred payment method is not available, placing Hong Kong among the highest in APAC for payment-related expectations. Adyen’s own data shows that local payment methods deliver a 26% higher average transaction value than other methods, highlighting direct financial upside of meeting client expectations. 

Retailers in Hong Kong are actively responding to these customer expectations. A majority (83%) of local merchants now report having a unified commerce system in place, giving them a single, consolidated view of customer activities across online and offline channels.  

This foundation enables flexible checkout options, such as mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) solutions, which allow staff to assist with payments anywhere on the sales floor, effectively turning any location into a checkout counter and directly addressing demands for both speed and convenience. 

This trend towards digitisation for value is further reinforced by a separate YouGov report, "The rise of value shoppers: APAC grocery retail report 2025." The study, which surveyed over 1,000 Hong Kong adults, found that a striking 75% of local shoppers use supermarket apps to access discounts and promotions, while over 60% participate in digital loyalty programmes. 

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