Survey talks up Internet shopping

Online shopping has great potential for growth and annual trade could reach more than NT$100 billion (US$2.98 billion) by 2009, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by the Institute for Information Industry (資策會).

The figure was contained in an analysis of online shopping behavior this year by the organization's Advance e-Commerce Institute. The institute conducted the survey among people aged 15 to 64 and collected 2,288 valid samples.

The value of the online shopping market stood at NT$38.9 billion (US$1.158 billion) last year, and the figure is likely to exceed NT$90 billion next year, the institute said.

Liu Yu-ming (劉毓民), the director of the Advance e-Commerce Institute, said that last year around 50 percent of online shoppers spent an average of less than NT$8,000, 18.4 percent spent more than NT$50,000 and 14.8 percent spent between NT$10,000 and NT$20,000.

The top three most popular items purchased over the Internet were books and magazines, 3C products and tourism services, including air tickets and hotel reservations.

Although "investment and wealth management" items accounted for only 1.2 percent of online consumption, the average transaction topped NT$21,400, followed by tourism services with an average transaction of about NT$3,560, Liu said.

Although book purchases made up the largest group, average spending was only NT$630, while the average transaction for 3C products was NT$3,200.

The survey also discovered that those who earn less than NT$10,000 per month made up the mainstay of online shoppers, Liu said.

He added that most of them were students who either had the support of their families or who were spending what they earned from odd jobs.

Those who earned between NT$25,000 and NT$40,000 accounted for 16.8 percent of online shoppers, and those who earned between NT$40,00 and NT$55,000 accounted for 12.0 percent, according to the survey's results.

Online shoppers mostly resided in the north of the country (41.6 percent), followed by shoppers in the center (29.8 percent), in the south (23.9 percent) and in the east (4.7 percent), pointing to the existence of a regional digital divide, Liu added.