Hong Kong electronics pricing losing edge

Hong Kong’s reputation as a go-to destination for cheap electronics prices is under threat.

According to a survey of 72 global markets by South American eCommerce vendor Linio.com, Hong Kong electronics are not the cheapest in the world – in fact in the case of some products, Hong Kong ranks in the middle to most expensive.

Venezuela proved the most expensive market for every one of the 14 products compared, due to out-of-control inflation

Linio.com’s 2016-17 Technology Price Index takes into account the cost of smartphones, laptops, games consoles, tablets, smart devices, and other gadgets, ranking the countries on the average cost of all products researched.

The entire table can be viewed online.

To conduct the research Linio looked at the costs of all products in the study from several brick-and-mortar chain stores and smaller retailers in all major cities in each country. The study also took into account average costs from at least three reputable online outlets in each country. Taxes and other associated purchasing costs, minus delivery, were also accounted for.

The results, which were ranked in order of average cost of all products researched, reveal that Hong Kong has an overall ranking of 12. Hong Kong also ranks in the top 10 most affordable countries for iPad Mini, Apple Watches, and External Hard Drives.

“At Linio, we place a high value on transparency with our customers, and we hope that our index helps people more confidently interpret variations in tech price around the world,” said Andreas Mjelde Linio’s CEO. “Increasingly, the average citizen is a global one, and with a better understanding of global markets comes empowerment to travel, shop, and live smarter.”