How popular is Shopify in Hong Kong?

Shopify is a global behemoth powering over 4.4million sites worldwide (per Storeleads), generating over US$200b in annual GMV. Of this, over 18,000 Shopify sites originate from Hong Kong (source: Storeleads). The number of brands powered by Shopify grew 33% from 2023 to 2024, a sign of Shopify’s ever-increasing competitive edge; certainly impressive numbers with market validation of its product for Hong Kong businesses! (source - Storeleads)

All in all, Shopify is the largest ecommerce platform and yet continues to gain market share, with brands migrating to Shopify from other platforms due to Shopify’s focus on innovation - keeping its merchants ahead of customer experience and operations benchmarks. For example, here’s a snapshot of what other ecommerce platforms businesses are switching from to Shopify:

Are there any leading brands currently using Shopify in Hong Kong? Is Shopify only suitable for small businesses in Hong Kong or can enterprises with high custom needs use it too?

Shopify along with Shopify Plus offers solutions for businesses at every stage of growth covering startups to multi-national Fortune 500 global brands.

In Hong Kong alone, our team at Wave Commerce has worked with a number of leading brands across different industries to adopt Shopify into their online commerce infrastructure. Here are examples of brands that we’ve worked with on their Shopify Hong Kong sites:

Apparel, fashion, and footwear: 

LANE EIGHT, New Era HK, Dr. Martens HK, Onitsuka Tiger HK, ASICS HK, DVF HK, Determinant, Sidefame

FMCG and global consumer brands:

Lee Kum Kee HK, Mead Johnson HK, Mentholatum HK, PuraPharm HK, Nestlè HK

Consumer electronics and appliances:

Logitech HK, J Select, GP Batteries HK, Momax

Food & beverage, home and lifestyle:

city’super, LOG-ON, ProductPro, Imperial Patisserie, Bombol

Beauty, health and personal care: 

JAAAM, Ms. Chu Soap & Beaut, Life Nutrition, Swisse, INDICAID, YA-MAN

Does Shopify have an office in Hong Kong or a local customer support team?

While Shopify doesn't have a physical office in Hong Kong, their online customer support is available for HK businesses 24/7. Furthermore, if you need direct local on the ground support in Hong Kong, you can find that available through Shopify’s network of Shopify Partners like Wave Commerce, an official Shopify Expert and Shopify Plus Partner, based in Hong Kong.

Wave Commerce also hosts regular community events for Shopify Hong Kong merchants! Such as Shopify Meetups, webinars, and the Shopify HK Ecommerce Summit.

Explore our upcoming and past events here, as well as the latest Shopify insights and updates unboxed for Hong Kong and the region on our blog.

Does Shopify offer a free trial in Hong Kong?

Absolutely! You can explore Shopify's features with a free trial. Get started here! Or, if you need support in setting up your Shopify store, feel free to contact our Shopify agency team.

How much does Shopify cost in Hong Kong?

Shopify offers various pricing plans for Hong Kong retailers tailored to different business needs. Here's an overview:

   - Basic Shopify: $25 USD per month (on an annual plan)

   - Shopify: $69 USD per month (on an annual plan)

   - Advanced Shopify: $299 USD per month (on an annual plan)

   - Shopify Plus: starts from $2,300 USD (on an annual plan)

Shopify's full pricing plan and features available with each plan can be found on shopify.com here.

What are good Shopify apps for Hong Kong?

Selecting the right Shopify apps can help localize your Shopify store in Hong Kong to meet the needs of local shoppers. For example, Hong Kong shoppers prefer to use fast local delivery and have self-pickup options such as SF Express lockers or convenience stores to pick up the goods. You can facilitate this experience with a Shopify app such as HK Pickup: Store & SF Express. 

Check out our article about the best Shopify apps to consider for Hong Kong Shopify merchants here. 

Does Shopify support the Chinese language?

Yes, Shopify supports the Chinese language for storefronts, catering to a bilingual audience. Additionally, the Shopify admin backend has a Chinese language option that can be selected as well. 

Shopify has a number of solutions to provide Chinese and English language display and toggling to offer customers a seamless experience (only seeing the language of their preference). To set this up, you could try one of Shopify’s many multilanguage apps, tap into their translations framework or seek out help from one of our Shopify expert team members.

Does Shopify support popular Hong Kong payment methods? Can Shopify Hong Kong merchants offer local payment methods like Octopus, FPS, Alipay, etc?

Absolutely! Shopify Payments along with Shopify’s network of payment gateway partners unlocks local payment options needed for the Hong Kong market. For example, the following payment methods can be added onto a Shopify site for Hong Kong: major credit cards, bank transfers, Alipay, Apple Pay, BoC Pay, FPS, Google Pay, Octopus, PayMe, Paypal, Tap & Go, Unionpay, WeChat Pay, and more.

Is there Shopify Plus in Hong Kong? What is it?

Shopify Plus is a top choice for larger brands and retailers. Shopify Plus empowers high-volume or fast-growing Hong Kong businesses with a cutting-edge shopping experience for global customers - and the flexibility for deep localization in Hong Kong as well as businesses who are looking to sell globally into multiple markets. Shopify alleviates the burden of platform maintenance, complex IT infrastructure, and complicated editing or QA/UAT processes, allowing you to focus on serving your customers. 

At a glance, some of the key features available with the Shopify Plus plan are:

• Checkout customizations and extensibility - One-Page Checkout is the latest checkout innovation from Shopify, creating a world-leading smoother checkout experience. While Checkout Extensibility offers Plus merchants bespoke customizations at checkout such as product descriptions, gifts, discount codes etc
• B2B on Shopify - seamless merging of DTC and B2B/wholesale management, with self-serve experience for B2B customers
• International expansion made easy: Shopify Markets and Expansion Stores - easily set up one global site with localized currencies, products etc with Shopify Markets, or manage multiple international stores easily with one account with Expansion Stores

Find out everything you need to know about Shopify plus, and whether it is the right fit for you business at your current stage of growth here. 

How do I set up a Shopify store for the Hong Kong market?

Every market has its own unique nuances and customer expectations, and Hong Kong is no different! As a leading Hong Kong-based Shopify partner, here are some top expert insights into how to set up a Shopify store for Hong Kong customers. 

Setup a Chinese language Shopify store, or only English?

Setting up a Shopify store is easy, but having a Chinese language store is also important for many brands in Hong Kong. Click through to read our guide on setting up a Chinese language Shopify store here. 

Shopify Hong Kong delivery and pickup options?

As Hong Kong is a compact city with everything in a short distance, more often than not local customers like to order online but schedule to pick up at the brand’s store, 7-Eleven, or even lockers (such as SF Express lockers). This may be popular given many older buildings don’t have security/doorman and delivery drivers can’t get inside to leave the parcel at the door, or prefer not to due to security reasons. Some buildings simply don’t allow delivery people in at all if the receiver isn't home. 

SF Express is a popular Hong Kong delivery company; there are many other great local shipping/delivery and 3PL service providers for Hong Kong. SF Express offers both direct-to-door deliveries as well as facilitate pick up at your brand’s stores or SF Express lockers, service points, and convenience stores. You can easily setup this experience with the Shopify app - HK Pickup: Store and SF Express

For improved convenience, you can also automatically generate SF Express shipping labels and print them, with the Shopify app - HK Shipping Labels: SF Express

Should I offer all Hong Kong payment options, or just the ones I think my customers would use?

Hong Kong shoppers have high expectations when it comes to wanting to pay in their preferred way! And in our experience as an ecommerce developer helping clients drive conversion optimization, the general principle behind conversion driven design is to reduce user friction at all costs, hence don’t let the lack of payment options be the reason for customers to deflect. Learn all about payment options with Shopify Hong Kong in our blog article here. 

What are the top Shopify apps for Hong Kong?

You came to the right place! Find our top recommendations of Shopify apps for Hong Kong retailers to consider to enhance customer experience and grow sales here. 

What sort of marketing tools and solutions should I use alongside Shopify?

First off, we suggest all businesses to set up Google and Meta channels on your Shopify site so that at a minimum, you’re getting coverage into the major digital marketing platforms and to start seeing ecommerce event data within Google Analytics 4.

On top of that, an email marketing platform is a MUST-HAVE for Shopify Hong Kong merchants (despite some who view email as outdated, the reality it, email is still a powerhouse in driving traffic and re-engagement globally)! If you’re looking for a smart and well integrated email marketing solution that’s built with deep integration into Shopify, Klaviyo is a leading choice. You can try Klaviyo for free here. If you need help, you can contact our team at Wave Commerce as we are Hong Kong’s first Klaviyo Gold Master Partner.

Does WhatsApp work with Shopify?

Yes! As a matter of fact there is a burgeoning set of WhatsApp marketing solution providers with solutions that integrate directly with Shopify. We’ve help set up a few of these WhatsApp integrations for clients where automations such as Welcome discounts, winbacks, birthday offers and cart abandonment messages are sent through WhatsApp. Contact us to learn more!

How can I build a Shopify customer loyalty program for Hong Kong customers?

Thank you for taking time to make it all the way here, we just wanted to share that at Wave Commerce, we’ve been pioneering loyalty for Shopify merchants worldwide for nearly a decade. Here are our top expert suggestions on how to get started with building a loyalty program on Shopify for Hong Kong customers here. 

Lastly, do I need a Shopify developer or can I work on Shopify by myself?

Shopify is pretty easy to use and set up and we definitely have clients who can take Shopify pretty far by themselves! For any advanced customizations or coding enhancements that you may require - you can reach out to us. Wave Commerce is a Shopify developer with over a decade of Shopify development experience and we’re ready to help on all things Shopify! Learn more about our Shopify store build services here, or contact us!

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About Wave Commerce

Wave Commerce is a leading Shopify Developer and Shopify Plus Agency in Hong Kong. As one of Shopify’s top partners in APAC, we help in-region brands as well as Fortune 500 enterprises navigate the rapidly changing digital commerce and retail ecosystem. We have a successful track record of launching commerce solutions for some of the world's most recognizable brands across apparel, consumer electronics, fashion, F&B, FMCG, health and wellness, home, hospitality and retail sectors.