PChome Online Inc (網路家庭), the nation’s largest e-commerce operator, plans to halve its delivery fees to NT$100 (US$3.31) for customers living on outlying islands in an effort to boost business outside of Taiwan proper.
The company’s new rates would be cheaper than Yahoo Taiwan Holding Ltd’s (雅虎) and Books.com Co Ltd’s (博客來), PChome said.
“We believe it could energize online shopping activity on the outlying islands,” PChome chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) said at a news conference on Thursday in Taipei to announce the new measure.
He did not elaborate on expected revenue growth from the move.
Both PChome and Yahoo Taiwan ship a wide range of products to Kinmen, Penghu, Matsu, Green Island and Orchid Island (蘭嶼, Lanyu), while Books.com delivers only books to the outlying islands, said a PChome source, who refused to be named.
Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) and Eastern Home Shopping & Leisure Co Ltd (東森購物) do not ship products to outlying islands, the source said.
The population of the outlying islands is about 270,000 people.
Because of high logistics costs and a small market size, the outlying islands contributed only 1 percent to PChome’s monthly orders and order values, the source said, declining to disclose the order amounts.
Jan Hung-tze said the cheaper costs of online shopping would not only energize the e-commerce activity, but also open a window for cross-border e-commerce between Taiwan and China.
For example, residents in Kinmen could order a wide range of products from PChome and resell them to Chinese tourists visiting the county, he said.
PChome said it would deliver goods for free for the first month if the total purchase value exceeds NT$1,000 to promote the new service.
In the first half of this year, the company’s cumulative revenue climbed 7.91 percent annually to NT$13.78 billion, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
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