The government may allow local e-commerce companies to provide limited third-party payment services, a Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC, 資策會) researcher said.
“Online store owners would welcome the opening up of an additional channel to enhance the efficiency of transactions on their sites as this would indirectly boost their sales,” MIC e-commerce market researcher Wang Yi-chih (王義智) said by telephone.
Wang’s comments came after PChome Online Inc (網絡家庭) chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) recently criticized the regulations on third-party payment services.
To speed up online transactions, shoppers at e-commerce sites tend to make small deposits in their accounts for goods they plan to trade with online store owners, since saving large amount of money online cannot generate any “return on investment,” Wang said.
Though it is understandable that the Financial Supervisory Commission needs to safeguard consumers from the possible risks brought by the move, the longer it takes for third-party payment services to be legalized in Taiwan, the longer it will take for local online businesses to prosper, he added.
“Taiwan’s e-commerce market is considerably valuable as a huge percentage of the population access the Internet on a daily basis,” Wang said.
“As foreign e-commerce sites like Taobao Mall (淘寶) and eBay Inc have grown stronger over the past decade, local competitors cannot wait much longer for third-party payment service to be opened, or it will be too late,” he added.
With the potential deregulation expected to boost sales of PChome Online, PC Store (商店街) and online game developer MacroWell OMG Digital Entertainment Co (OMG, 歐買尬), all three saw their shares soar by the maximum daily limit in Taipei trading yesterday.
PChome shares closed 6.75 percent higher at NT$166, PC Store stock closed up 6.67 percent at NT$152 and shares of OMG rose 6.93 percent to close at NT$152. The broader market closed down 0.8 percent.
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