PChomestore Inc (商店街), a PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) subsidiary, yesterday said it plans to extend its free shipping policy after it helped boost monthly orders to an estimated 6 million this month from 2 million last month.
PChomestore offers 170 million items on its online shopping platform, compared with less than 100 million items a year ago, the company said in a statement.
“We believe that whoever can provide the most favorable deals to consumers will secure the largest share of the market, and we believe that the free shipping strategy will be the most effective in this competitive industry,” the firm said.
PChomestore provides Web and mobile app platforms for smaller brands or individual sellers to reach consumers, whereas its parent company, PChome, focuses on providing a business-to-consumer model for larger brands.
PChomestore’s biggest rival is the Singapore-based Shopee Taiwan Co Ltd (樂購蝦皮).
Shoppee arrived in the Taiwanese market in 2015 and quickly became one of the leading e-commerce operators in the nation with its strategy of free listings for sellers and free shipping with a purchase of at least NT$99 (US$3.28).
In an effort to secure its market position, PChomestore this year adopted a more aggressive strategy.
The firm in April lowered the free shipping requirement from a minimum purchase of NT$199 to NT$99, and at the beginning of last month dropped the minimum purchase requirement entirely.
The company last month in a bid to attract consumers offered an ice cream to people who collected their purchases at 7-Eleven convenience stores.
PChomestore in June completed a capital injection plan of NT$300 million, the firm said, adding that its parent company fully supports the free delivery strategy.
The company reported a net loss of NT$66.83 million in the first half of this year, swinging into the negative compared with a net profit of NT$13.55 million over the same period last year, according to PChomestore data.
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