More than 230 local brands will participate in Hong Kong’s first shopping festival next month as the city steps up efforts to help small and medium-sized enterprises tap into the Chinese mainland market and enhance their popularity among mainland consumers.

The Hong Kong Shopping Festival, which will run from August 1 to 31, will be held across mainland e-commerce platforms. The brands, which cover apparel and accessories, personal care and cosmetics, home and lifestyle, classic food, smart gadgets and health supplements, will offer special products and price discounts.

The event aims to assist local SMEs in exploring the mainland e-commerce market, increase their exposure among mainland consumers and promote the “Hong Kong brand”.

READ MORE: HK launches HK$1.2b shopping fest to boost spending

“Hong Kong’s products hold good brand value in the mainland and across the region,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in a video at the launch ceremony for the festival in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

“We could capitalize on Hong Kong’s advantage of enjoying strong support of the motherland’s large market, and assist SMEs in reaching new mainland customer groups and developing the mainland market, thereby injecting impetus into their business development. It could also enable mainland consumers to gain access directly and conveniently to and purchase quality Hong Kong products.”

The event comes as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government intensifies moves to promote the development of e-commerce, an industry that has flourished on the mainland but is developing at a slower pace in Hong Kong.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, in his Policy Address delivered in October, said the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau would establish the inter-departmental E-commerce Development Task Force to implement policies assisting Hong Kong’s SMEs in developing e-commerce business on the mainland.

The SAR government launched the “E-commerce Easy” program in mid-July under the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales, allowing SMEs to flexibly use subsidies of up to HK$1 million ($128.050) to develop the mainland e-commerce market.

Hong Kong businesses can use subsidies to set up stores on online sales platforms, place advertisements, create or optimize mobile applications, and add electronic payment functions to corporate websites. Funding for the “E-commerce Easy” program will be raised to support the development of Hong Kong companies in other markets.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the nation’s online retail sales reached 15.4 trillion yuan ($2.12 trillion) in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 11 percent, while the online retail sales of physical goods hit 13 trillion yuan, up 8.8 percent from a year earlier.

Online sales accounted for 27.6 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods last year.

“In the past, unfamiliarity with Chinese mainland’s market was a pain point for many Hong Kong SMEs,” said Stephen Liang, assistant executive director at Hong Kong Trade Development Council, organizer of the event. “The shopping festival provides an opportunity for our high-quality brands to have a try.”

In late August, HKTDC will invite around 20 key opinion leaders to promote 60 selected Hong Kong brands to mainland consumers through live streaming sales.

READ MORE: Hong Kong shopping fest to offer HK$1.5b in coupons, gifts

“Although we have made a lot of efforts to tap into the mainland’s market through e-commerce, we found it hard to reach customers,”said Leslie Choy, founder, chairman and CEO of a nutritional health food company, AUSupreme International Holdings.

“With the help of big-data analysis, we are now able to target potential customers more easily,” he said, adding that participation in the shopping festival will give the company more exposure on the mainland.

Melody Keung, general manager of Taikoo Sugar, a sugar producing firm, said, “The Chinese mainland’s consumption culture, commercial promotion strategy and business operation model are different from Hong Kong. It is difficult for Hong Kong SMEs to do such research. They need a platform to help them enter a new market.”

Contact the writer at thor_wu@chinadailyhk.com