Yahoo-Kimo Taiwan (
PC Home reported yesterday that the company's online shopping sales more than doubled to NT$80 million this month, compared to NT$35 million in the same period last year.
"Masks, air purifiers and food that is said to enhance people's immune system have become hot items," said Sung Hwa-ming (
These products used to be categorized as slow-selling items, he said.
Yahoo-Kimo's e-commerce sector also reported double-digit sales growth as consumers turn to Web-based retailers.
"In an effort to lower the risk of infection, consumers may prefer to shop online and use home delivery services," said Charlene Hung (
EBay Taiwan, an online marketplace allowing users to sell and buy products, has also seen a flurry of SARS listings, with respiratory masks accounting for 85 percent of all items listed in its household goods category.
Consumers seem to be staying online longer in recent weeks.
Soft-World International Corp (
On March 31, some 130,000 players logged onto to the company's peer-group games during the 9pm rush hour. Since mid April the company said the number of users at the same time averages 162,000 players.
"We are expecting to see a mild increase in sales, while now it's too early to predict the actual number," said company spokesman Gavin Lin (
A government-funded market research center yesterday predicted home-based activities may profit from SARS fears.
"Growth will be seen most in the game and e-commerce sectors as the threat of SARS may discourage some consumers from venturing out," the Market Intelligence Center (
Home-centered amusements will be increasingly sought, with demand for games, videos and home KTV (karaoke television) growing as a result, the report said.
Home movie rentals have also seen an uptick in recent weeks.
Cine-Asia Entertainment International Co (
Global Sources Ltd, which matches buyers and sellers worldwide through Web sites and publications, said that online inquiries have risen more than 30 percent, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.
Most of the manufacturers Global Sources represents are in China.
"Buyers not wishing to travel are availing themselves of alternatives," Global Sources Chairman Merle Hinrichs said in the Bloomberg report. He said that the company expects profits to rise as a result.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained