Online sales of consumer electronics and home appliances in Taiwan surged 30 percent year-on-year in the first two weeks of last month, as consumers stayed home to help reduce transmission of COVID-19, a report published by Germany-based market researcher GfK SE said on Tuesday.
Across all categories, sales of TVs, laptops and game consoles increased the most within the two-week period, showing that market demand for consumer electronics and home appliances was unaffected by the coronavirus outbreak, the report said.
However, sales registered through brick-and-mortar stores contracted 3 percent year-on-year over the same period, it said.
This goes to show how the retail industry has migrated online in the past few years, the report said, comparing sales with those during the SARS outbreak in 2003.
The spread of SARS dealt a heavy blow to local market demand for consumer electronics and home appliances, as the retail industry was extremely dependent on physical stores for sales, it said.
Overall sales of consumer electronics and home appliances dropped 9 percent year-on-year in the March-to-May period in 2003.
Citing Taiwan’s healthy and maturing e-commerce sector, Gfk gave a positive outlook for online sales of consumer electronics and home appliances in the second half of the year, saying such sales could be further boosted by retailers launching promotional events.
In the meantime, sales at brick-and-mortar stores are expected to improve as the government has announced a number of stimulus programs aimed at local retailers, the market researcher said.
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