If you’re true shopaholics just like me, here are shopping tips, best online sites, and much more!
Shopping essentials:
Even though the retail market has been hit hard due to the pandemic, the supermarkets, grocery, and food stores remain pretty unaffected. The reason behind this is that during lockdown, people had developed a habit of stocking large quantities of essential items at home. Also, with the restaurants and other food joints being shut, cooking different items at home became a national hobby. Due to these factors, the grocery stores and supermarkets got a boost.
Shifting toward online shopping:
Although some people still prefer shopping for essentials like food grains, dairy, vegetables, fruits, etc., by visiting the stores personally, with increasing COVID cases, changes in shopping behaviour of people are seen and many are shifting from bulk buying to online shopping.
According to a few surveys on online shopping behaviour, during COVID, most purchased items online were food, groceries, personal hygiene products, and masks in Hong Kong. In food items, dry food items were in demand the most.
Some of the best websites for buying groceries, greens, medicines, and other essentials in Hong Kong:
Foodcraft: One can get a variety of items ranging from vegan food material to condiments, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, gift hampers, etc., from this website. Link: https://www.foodcraft.hk/
1. Homegrown foods: The website aims at helping the local farmers. You get a variety of fresh food items here. Link: https://www.homegrownfoods.com.hk/groceries
2. Jou Sun: Not only fresh food items are available on this website, but it also sells personal healthcare items and household essentials. Link: https://www.jousun.com/welcome/landing
3. Spicebox Organics: You can a wide range of organic products on this website. Link: http://www.spiceboxorganics.com/
4. Pacific Rich: If you want to buy fresh and frozen seafood, the website is for you. Link: https://www.pacificrichresources.com/product-category/seafood/
5. Farmer’s Market: The website offers a wide range of fresh meat in Hong Kong. Link: https://www.farmersmarket.com.hk/
• Healthcare and hygiene products:
1. Biovea: The website sells high-end health and beauty products. Link: www.biovea.com/hk
2. The Store: Right from personal hygiene items, to vitamins, to immunity boosters, you get everything here. Link: www.thestore.com.hk
Clothes, fashion accessories, tech products, batteries:
With the latest styles, ongoing sales, and easy exchange and return policy, people are shifting toward buying clothes online, especially the younger population. Also, with great discounts available online on phones; laptops; chargers; batteries; COVID essentials, like masks, sanitizers, face shields; and other electronic items, people are buying more and more items online. The most preferred websites for fashion and clothing are:
1. Alibaba.com: You see a wide range of products on the website, be it clothes, jewellery, fashion accessories, tech products, to home essentials. Everything is available here. Link: https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/hk-online-shopping.html
2. Joybuy: The website is affiliated with JD.com and a great variety of products is available here. Link: https://www.joybuy.com/
3. Zalora: This website offers a wide range of fashion clothing in Hong Kong. Link: https://www.zalora.com.hk/
4. Farfetch: This is another website for buying luxury clothing in Hong Kong. Link: https://www.farfetch.com/hk/
5. Amazon: The website stocks almost all the types of products one would require in day-to-day life. Link: https://www.amazon.com/hk. Another such website is ebay (https://www.ebay.com.hk/).
• With these online shopping websites, it is easy to purchase the essentials from the comfort of our homes. However, if you still want to visit the stores yourself, below are the tips to be followed for safe shopping:
1. Wearing a mask: The most essential thing to do right now while leaving your home is wear a mask. Wearing masks can prevent the transmission of disease.
2. Wearing hand gloves: Although a lot of people think wearing hand gloves in public is good for safety, studies suggest that wearing gloves can help to spread germs the same way they can spread from our hands to our face. We are also likely to spread germs from gloves to objects we touch, like phone, wallets, purse, etc. If still someone wants to wear gloves, removing them properly is very essential.
3. Sanitizers: Studies suggest that it is okay to touch the food items on the shelves, as there is no evidence that the virus can get transmitted through food packaging. But, on the safer side, it is always better to carry sanitizers and sanitize our hands as soon as we touch something.
4. Always carry your own wipes to wipe the handles of shopping cart or baskets and maintain social distance.
5. Avoid cash transactions and opt for online payment.
