Taiwan E-Commerce Soars 30 Percent
Written by Fred J. AunOnline sales in Taiwan are expected to reach almost $9.5 billion this year, an increase of more than 30 percent compared with 2008, according to a Taiwan News report. The findings come from a survey conducted by the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute, which found that, while travel “will retain the lion’s share” of Taiwan’s business-to-consumer online market, online clothing stores and boutiques will, for the first time, surpass consumer electronics and attain the second-place spot among product and service categories.
The study found that the biggest online spenders in Taiwan are between the ages of 20 and 39 and that men of all ages spend nearly twice as much online as do women. Taiwan consumers told the survey-takers that they primarily value good after-sales service, online privacy protection and product quality. Interestingly, the report noted auction sites appear to be losing some steam in the country due to consumer impatience: “MIC also observed that direct-purchasing has become more popular recently as consumers seem to have run out of patience with the long waiting process on auction Web sites.”
-Marc
August 11th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Sorry, I have to correct the math here — NT$ 311 billion is not USD $94.4 billion, it is USD $9.4 billion. If Taiwan had 94.4 billion USD in online sales it would be almost double the total of the Japanese online market at USD $56 billion — which would be amazingly huge.
The original report press release is here: http://mic.iii.org.tw/english/press/en_5_press_room_1_1.asp?doc_sqno=7229
August 11th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Editor’s Note: Thanks, Albert. We’ve fixed the story above. For the record, that decimal error was from the publication we linked to, but it was still our fault because we didn’t recheck their math. Thanks! And our apologies.