Experian study reveals property purchasing intentions of Hong Kong consumers

About a quarter of Hong Kong consumers intend to buy a local property in the coming six months, according to a unique study of Hong Kong consumers’ attitudes and behaviours, carried out by Experian.

The study provides local and international businesses with new insights into the demographics, lifestyles and purchasing preferences of Hong Kong consumers. It enables businesses to understand their target customers and market opportunities, and to implement effective marketing strategies.

‘Our consumer segmentation and analytical tool, Mosaic, delivers unprecedented details about consumers in each geodemographic segment,’ said Dr. Sam Chiu, Director, Business Strategies Division, Experian Hong Kong Limited. ‘Businesses can identify, differentiate and locate their target customer groups, and most importantly, ensure that their marketing and communications strategies are effective.

‘The goal of consumer segmentation is to identify the groups within the market in a way that optimizes businesses’ interaction with their customers. Applications range from communication messaging, acquisition and cross-selling tactics, to new product development and market planning.’

The study is underpinned by Mosaic Hong Kong, Experian’s award-winning geo-demographic segmentation system which classifies consumer segments at the finest level of geography available in the market.

Mosaic Hong Kong classifies approximately 2.3 million households and 7 million individuals in Hong Kong into 29 unique Mosaic types and 10 groups that share similar demographic and lifestyle characteristics, including personal income, occupation and type of housing. The 10 groups in the Mosaic Hong Kong classification are Upper Echelons, Well-to-Do, Emerging Middle Class, Suburban Locals, Compact City Life, Comfy Subsidised Homes, Grass Roots Living, Community Challenge, Grey Perspectives and Communal Homes.

Based on Mosaic segmentation, Experian’s online consumer panel surveyed over 2,000 consumers in Hong Kong in April, focusing on their purchasing intentions in relation to local property and their use of personal financial services.

Key findings

• 24 per cent of the Hong Kong population aged 15 to 64 intends to buy a local property in the coming six months. In the Upper Echelons and Compact City Life segments, this rises to about 30 percent.
• Over 60 percent of the Hong Kong population expect property values to rise by between 7 per cent and 10 per cent in the coming six months.
• Upper Echelons tend to buy property of over 750 square feet, whereas Compact City Life tend to invest in or buy property of less than 750 square feet.
• About 10 per cent of credit card holders pay the minimum amount or a partial amount of their bill each month. Comfy Subsidised Homes prefer this payment option.
• About 23 per cent of the Hong Kong population has a personal loan (personal instalment loan, revolving credit facility/top-up loan, overdraft, tax loan or car loan). Well-to-do and Comfy Subsidised Homes have more personal loans than other segments.

Mosaic segmentation benefits Octopus Connect Ltd

Experian has a track record of providing a detailed understanding of consumer behaviours to comapnies in all the major industry sectors. Apart from the banking, finance and property sectors, retail is another high-growth market for consumer segmentation in hong Kong. For example, Octopus, a leading micro-payment and rewards program platform, has recently used Mosaic to enhance its understanding of its customer data, and to help it to create more effective marketing campaigns for Octopus partners.’

Octopus Connect Ltd has access to a vast amount of customer data, including 1.3 million subscribers to the Octopus Rewards programme, which runs with different retail merchants in Hong Kong.

'One of our business goals is to provide our partner merchants with more effective and targeted marketing campaigns,' said Richard Warland, Managing Director, Octopus Connect Ltd. 'Mosaic Hong Kong exactly serves this purpose by enabling targeted marketing in various retail contexts, in particular customer acquisition modelling, campaign analysis, site selection, market analysis and geographical mapping, as well as new product development. The system also enhances our own database, providing a more accurate and comprehensive view of current and potential customers.'

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