Shopee Taiwan Co Ltd (樂購蝦皮), one of the nation’s leading mobile e-commerce platforms, yesterday said it has no plan to drop its free-shipping policy requirements in view of fierce price competition from local peers.
“Free shipping is not our only weapon to attract consumers in Taiwan, but it is a really effective one. We are not planning to phase out our policy anytime soon,” Shopee Asia Pacific regional managing director Terence Pang (馮時欽) told a news conference in Taipei.
The Singapore-based company entered the Taiwanese market in 2015, providing consumer-to-consumer (C2C) auction services, free listings for sellers and free shipping from a minimum purchase of NT$99.
The strategy paid off, as Shopee became one of the top three auction platform operators last year, along with Taiwan Yahoo Holdings Ltd (雅虎) and PChome Online Inc’s (網路家庭) subsidiary Ruten.com (露天拍賣), the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) said.
MIC did not publish market shares for the three firms.
Yahoo launched free shipping in April this year, while PChome subsidiary PChomestore Inc (商店街) last month lowered the minimum purchase requirement for free shipping from NT$199 to NT$99 , only to drop it entirely at the beginning of this month.
PChomestore last month announced it would expand its service by offering auction services on its business-to-consumer (B2C) Web site and mobile app.
Shopee last month also expanded its business scope in Taiwan by collaborating with brand vendors to offer B2C service.
The company yesterday launched an updated version of its app, offering one-stop shopping for both B2C and C2C services, as the company aims to attract more customers, Pang said.
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