The biggest unlock for 2026
Hong Kong’s founders are resilient, adaptive, and expansion-ready. But reducing financial friction — especially payments, FX, and settlement inefficiencies — may be the single biggest unlock for profitability in 2026.
Hong Kong E-commerce Pulse Check 2025
Hong Kong’s e-commerce sector is entering 2026 with cautious optimism. Merchants expect growth, new channels are accelerating, and cross-border expansion remains a major theme.
But beneath that resilience lies an overlooked structural risk: the financial friction costing merchants up to 10% of revenue every month.
This report highlights how founders are adapting to macro pressures, where their next wave of growth is coming from, and why payments and financial operations are becoming the biggest threat to profitability.
In partnership with
Key highlights
64%
of merchants expect revenue growth in 2026 despite inflation and cost pressures
73%
of merchants are shifting from a premium to value product strategy
62%
of merchants are relying on Instagram, Facebook, XiaoHongShu and TikTok Shop as their primary sales channel
91%
of merchants lose 1-10% of revenue monthly due to payment friction
Insight #1
The market is tightening, but merchants are staying resilient
They're taking a measured approach to macroeconomic pressures, despite rising rent, higher logistic costs and softer consumer spending.
64%
expect revenue to grow in 2025, and most describe the broader macro impact as “neutral” rather than restrictive.
To face macro-headwinds, merchants are going deep instead of going wide
Insight #2
The storefront has moved into the feed
Discovery-led commerce is now both the dominant and fastest-growing channel.
Insight #3
Merchants are looking beyond their home market
Regional expansion remains the clearest path to growth.
Insight #4
Payment costs are rising across the board
91%
of Hong Kong e-commerce merchants lose between 1-10% of revenue every month due to payment friction.
61%
lost 1-3%
26%
lost 4-6%
4%
lost 7-10%
Key payment cost drivers
Drilling down, as many as 87% pay 2–4%+ in processing fees. Together, these barriers are now a structural drag on growth — eroding margins even when demand is strong.
Methodology
Aspire’s Hong Kong Ecommerce Year-End Pulse Check 2025 is based on survey responses from 100 Hong Kong ecommerce businesses, collected over two weeks in November 2025. Respondents typically fall within the HKD 1–10 million annual revenue range and represent a wide mix of categories, including beauty, fashion, home and living, lifestyle, pet care, baby and kids, creative goods, sporting goods, and F&B. All insights are self-reported and focus on five areas shaping their operating environment: macroeconomic pressures, pricing and product strategies, social commerce growth, cross-border expansion, and the operational and financial friction influencing profitability and scale.