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Internet shopping traffic up 3 percent

Local shopping Web sites attracted 3 percent more traffic in September compared to the same period last year, local market researcher InsightXplorer Ltd's (創市際) latest report said.

About 8.27 million Web users visited the nation's major shopping Web sites operated by Yahoo-Kimo Inc (雅虎奇摩) and PChome eBay Co (露天市集) in September, InsightXplorer statistics showed. This compared to 8 million who visited such online shopping sites a year ago, data showed.

InsightXplorer also said about 70 percent of total Internet users logged on online shopping sites in September, up from 66.7 percent in the previous month.

STABLE GROWTH

"This shows that online shopping is growing at a stable pace. Cyberspace is becoming an important place for Internet users to shop and exchange goods," InsightXplorer said in the report, released on Friday.

A report from another local researcher, Market Intelligence Center (MIC, 市場情報中心), echoed the findings. MIC forecast for online shopping showed the sector would expand 36.4 percent to NT$252.9 billion (US$7.8 billion) from this year.

MIC did not provide comparative figures.

The InsightXplorer report said Yahoo-Kimo remained the largest online shopping site in Taiwan, with a market share of 61.8 percent of visits in September.

The report confirmed Yahoo-Kimo's dominant role in the business, although the auction site did enrage users late last year when it started charging online retailers a transaction fee of 3 percent of the concluding price per item.

Meanwhile, PChome eBay, a joint venture of PC Home Online (網路家庭) and eBay Taiwan launched in September with NT$300 million in capital, had a 28.9 percent market share in September. The site does not charge a transaction fee.

VISITS

In terms of the number of visits, Yahoo-Kimo attracted more than 7 million visitors in September, to PChome eBay's 3 million, the report said.

The results showed that the additional charge did not seriously affect traffic, InsightXplorer said in the report.

The researcher found that 70 percent of online shoppers are aged 15 to 39. White-collar working class and students were the major shoppers, followed by housewives.

InsightXplorer said 90 percent of Internet users had made purchases on both shopping sites.
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