Online Shopping Experience In Taiwan
What’s the market trend in Taiwan? What are the most-used e-commerce platforms? What kind of services do they provide? These are the questions you might be thinking right now. So, here I am, introducing some interesting facts of e-commerce in Taiwan.
Mobile Is The Major Purchasing Device
There are over 80% of the purchases generated from the mobile, including buying through applications and mobile webpages, which means that the optimisation of user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design on mobile devices is a critical factor for e-commerce to achieve business success.
High Efficiency In Distribution
High delivery efficiency becomes a consensus among e-commerce platforms and consumers to optimise the purchasing experience. Therefore, the logistic infrastructure and network are the two things that affect the success of an online business. Currently, there are services of 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour delivery, making online shopping experience faster and more convenient.
Praise The ‘Convenience’ Store
In Taiwan, consumers shopping online can choose to pick up their packages at the nearest convenience store around them, which is similar to the idea of Amazon Locker that you can pick up orders at the location like grocery stores or shopping malls.
So, why we are praising it? Because the density of convenience stores in Taiwan is very high, and usually there are 2 to 3 convenience stores within each block. This trait offers a solution for people who live in the building without a reception pick up their orders easily without concerns about missing them.
Who Are The Major E-commerce Players?
Generally, there are three major online retailers in the game, including momo, PChome and Shopee. The former two have a long history in e-commerce based on the Taiwan market while the latter was founded in 2015 in Singapore.
momo
It is a subsidiary owned by one of Taiwan’s most significant financial holding, Fubon Group. The company possesses several media, including three TV shopping channels, the online shopping website and app. Its business is mainly focused on B2C, providing a digital platform for third-party brands. It is estimated to have capital of £37m and sales revenue of £614m in the first half-year of 2019, making it the most profitable e-commerce business in Taiwan.
PChome
It was founded in 1996 in Taiwan when the internet industry has just begun to bloom. It provides B2C and C2C e-commerce platforms, selling all kinds of products online (it’s like Amazon in Taiwan). It pioneered in 24-hour delivery service ten years ago. Recently, it even starts a trial operation offering 6-hour delivery in Taipei. Moreover, it has subsidiaries specialised in e-payment. It had been the e-commerce market leader for years until the Singaporean e-commerce entered the Taiwan market.
Shopee
Although Shopee is a very young company founded in 2015 in Singapore, it has a powerful holding company, Sea Group, who used to be one of the unicorns and had IPO in New York Stock Exchange in 2017. Shopee provides both B2C and C2C e-commerce marketplace and expands its business very quickly in Southeast Asia. In 2016, it marched its e-commerce army to Taiwan, penetrating the market through pouring tremendous funds into marketing and promotion expenses.
Next time, I am going to talk about a fierce battle between the Taiwanese online shopping leader (PChome) and Singaporean e-commerce rising star (Shopee). Who won the war? We’ll see.
