Wisers study: Most popular shopping malls and FMCG retailers in HK

The pandemic has changed consumers' habits and brands need to rejig their strategies under the new normal. Although some brands' businesses have seen a decline over the past few months, a handful of them can still win customers' hearts, according to a recent Wisers' study. These brands need to understand netizen's mindsets. 

To understand netizens better and evaluate the effectiveness of brands' online marketing campaigns, Wisers has unveiled Hong Kong’s most popular shopping malls and department stores. Although the pandemic has hit Hong Kong's retail market, K11 MUSEA and K11 Art Mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, both under the New World Development Company, topped the list as they rolled out outstanding marketing strategies.For example, K11 MUSEA adopted “filter marketing” tactics to attract netizens to take photos at the shopping mall and post their photos online, generating buzz for the shopping mall. 

Meanwhile, although K11 Art Mall ranked 33rd among shopping malls in Hong Kong in terms of engagement volume, it was still popular thanks to recommendations by food guides as the mall boasts a variety of restaurants. 

To compile the index of the most popular shopping mall online, Wisers' research team captured 400,000 online posts mentioning FMCG retailers, collected data on more than 100 million interactive cases, including the number of comments, number of shares, number of likes, and the sum of emojis. The research team reviewed related information with three indicators, namely the number of posts, the number of engagements, and the net value of positive comments.

As for the most popular department stores, Watsons topped the list followed by YATA and HKTVmall. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Watsons won the hearts of netizens by promoting household hygienic products, setting up an anti-pandemic charity fund and providing health care workers with masks.  As a result, “Thank you brother Li Ka-shing“ once became a network buzzword, suggesting the brand has won the support among the general public.

The runner-up YATA has been renowned for its YATA Shopping Days and updating news about its employees' safety amid the pandemic on Facebook, and replying to comments. Such moves have been praised by netizens for the company's friendliness, transparency and sincerity.

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