E-commerce in Taiwan to witness expansion in 2008: up 32.3% over 2007

At the end of 2008, online shopping in Taiwan is expected to climb by 32.3 percent, as compared to 2007 and reach USD 7.42 billion, according to estimates made by a local research and consulting firm.

Due to lower prices and a broader range of products that online stores offer, customers across Taiwan prefer to turn to the internet for their purchases.

Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is estimated to represent USD 4.1 billion of the total e-commerce market and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) transactions are to account for USD 3.1 billion. B2C transactions are the equivalent of nearly 4 percent of the overall retail business.

Fashion and beauty products have registered the most rapid growth, as the compounded average growth rates (CAGR) of these categories hit 88 percent and 49 percent respectively.

For the consumer electronics and travel e-commerce categories, CAGRs have reached 25 percent and 21 percent respectively.

In terms of B2C transactions, the average value gets higher with the age of the consumer. Thus, Taiwanese online buyers who are aged between 20 and 29 spend USD 269, while those older than 50 spend USD 609 on average.

The study was conducted by the Market Intelligence Center.