Cross-border online spending by Taiwanese last year rose 5.4 percent annually to an average of NT$16,378 per person, according to a survey released on March 15 by the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所).
The growth indicates that cross-border online shopping is gaining popularity in Taiwan, reversing a tepid increase in the previous two years, MIC senior industry analyst Rosa Chang (張筱祺) said.
The survey conducted by the market research division of the Taipei-based Institute for Information Industry (資策會) found that people in the 26-to-35 age group comprised the largest demographic making purchases on overseas shopping sites.
According to the poll, 69.5 percent of respondents favored China’s Taobao.com (淘寶) and Tmall.com (天貓) e-commerce sites, 19.3 percent preferred Japan’s Rakuten Inc, 17.9 percent favored Amazon.com Inc’s Japanese Web site, 14.2 percent preferred the US’ Amazon.com and 7.2 percent chose eBay Inc.
In terms of products purchased, clothing items were the largest category, accounting for 39.3 percent of total purchases, followed by daily necessity products (36.9 percent), technology products (35.6 percent), designer bags and shoes (20.9 percent) and home appliances (11.8 percent), the MIC said.
The survey found that men shopping online purchased technology products the most, while clothing was the favorite type of purchase for women.
Average spending by men was NT$18,279 last year, higher than the average of NT$14,171 spent by women, it showed.
About 59.1 percent of respondents said favorable pricing was the reason why they chose cross-border online shopping, 56.1 percent said foreign sites usually offered products that their Taiwanese counterparts lacked, 24.6 percent said foreign shopping sites offered a wider range of products, 24.1 percent said they were attracted to large discounts and 11.2 percent said the quality of products on foreign shopping sites was better.
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