They took their time. Chinese internet firms are finally bringing their fierce rivalry to Hong Kong. The market is small. Yet the Asian hub presents a low-risk outpost for the likes of $51 billion JD.com 89618 to test global expansion strategies beyond a brutal home market.
E-commerce has been the hottest battlefront. Douyin and Little Red Book have both recently announced expansion plans in Hong Kong. JD.com Chair Richard Liu told reporters in June that the international e-commerce operation, which contributes less than 5% of the group’s revenue compared with Alibaba’s 
BABA 13%, will become his focus. His firm has joined Alibaba and Pinduoduo 
PDD in offering free shipping on most orders placed in Hong Kong, where logistics are more costly, and Liu promises there will be no cap on how much JD spends in the city.
True, consumer confidence is low in Hong Kong too: retail sales fell 7.3% year-on-year to HK$377 billion ($48.03 billion) in 2024. But online transactions amounted to 8.4% of the total, per Hong Kong government data, compared with over 50% in most Chinese cities. That’s low-hanging fruit for companies eager to prop up growth. JD’s total net revenue will barely rise 6% this year, half the level in the year to December 2025, per analyst consensus estimates on Visible Alpha. Alibaba’s revenue from international e-commerce rose 29% year-on-year in the year to the end of March, compared with a 3% growth in its domestic business.
Expanding across the border into China’s most international city will help companies limber up for a bigger push overseas. This might have come sooner if not for Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on the tech sector. Last week, JD said it is in advanced talks to acquire German retailer Ceconomy 
CEC for about $2.5 billion. That is a slow-growth business, but the buyer can overhaul and scale up the digital operations.
That would provide JD with a valuable beachhead to expand further into Europe. How far it and its rivals can go will also be determined by geopolitical tensions. Yet the generous tactics companies are deploying to win market share in Hong Kong offer a clue to how pushy they might be elsewhere too.
CONTEXT NEWS
E-commerce group JD.com is in talks to acquire a 70% stake in Hong Kong grocery chain Kai Bo, which operates 90 stores, for HK$4 billion ($512 million), news portal HK01 reported on July 21, citing market sources.
A JD.com representative told the South China Morning Post on July 22 that the HK01 report was not accurate, and the acquisition price was “much lower”.
JD said on July 27 that it is in advanced talks to buy German electronics retailer Ceconomy at about 2.2 billion euros ($2.5 billion).
