Taobao.com (淘寶), China’s largest online shopping Web site, has partnered with FamilyMart (全家) convenience store chain to launch a pick-up service in Taiwan, the chain announced yesterday.
FamilyMart said it is the first convenience store chain in Taiwan to offer a cross-border pick-up service, which is expected to boost the growth of its pick-up service by more than 10 percent.
Convenience store pick-up services have become increasingly popular among online buyers and sellers because there is no time constraint and they are less costly, FamilyMart president Chang Ren-dun (張仁敦) said.
Photo: Yang Ya-min, Taipei Times
The business opportunities provided by Taiwan’s online shopping stores are estimated to be worth NT$100 billion (US$3.39 billion) a year, he said.
Daphne Lee (李芃君), director of overseas business for Taobao.com, said that demand for the company’s products is growing in Taiwan, where Taobao.com has 800,000 members.
With nearly 2,900 stores across the nation, FamilyMart offers buyers a more convenient service for online shopping, Lee said.
Under the arrangement that took effect yesterday, customers in Taiwan can choose the pick-up service after they place their orders with Taobao.com, with an estimated delivery time of four to seven days, she said, adding that buyers will be able to track their orders and get delivery information.
In Taiwan, one out of every seven people has used a convenience store pick-up service at least once, according to freight logistics services.
The nation’s four major convenience store chains handle more than 1 million packages a month, and the market for online shopping pick-up services is estimated at NT$500 million a year, freight companies said.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
RSS