Logistics and warehouse capacity would be the keys to determining the success of e-commerce retailers, the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) said yesterday.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has cast a shadow over the retail sector, it has allowed the e-commerce industry to shine.
E-commerce sales in Taiwan surged 16.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, while sales across the wider retail sector contracted by 0.6 percent.
Photo courtesy of PChome Online Inc
Pointing to the nation’s two largest e-retailers — PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) and Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) — the institute said that the race to build bigger warehouses and to improve logistics management is on.
“Taking a look at their [PChome and Momo] performances last quarter, we can clearly see that the nature of the competition has changed from a focus on boosting merchandise quantity to lowering logistics costs and expanding warehouse capacity,” MIC e-commerce industry consultant and director Wang Yi-chih (王義智) told an online forum.
The company that “has a strong logistics and warehouse system will have the highest chance of winning,” Wang said.
PChome reported that sales grew 16.05 percent year-on-year to NT$10.68 billion (US$357.13 million) in the first quarter, while Momo posted a 28.72 percent growth in sales to NT$15.11 billion.
“Logistics is one of the most important pillars supporting the e-commerce industry,” and major players have been setting up their own fleets, Wang said.
Seeking to ensure fast deliveries, Momo last month set up a new logistics subsidiary, Fu Sheng Logistics Co (富昇物流), which has a fleet of 200 couriers and more than 100 vehicles.
PChome is one step ahead, having established PChome Express Co (網家速配) in 2018, which has 250 couriers and 200 vehicles.
The importance of logistics in the development of e-commerce has been further highlighted by the recent surge in demand for food deliveries, Wang said.
As an increasing number of customers choose to eat at home, more e-commerce operators are offering fresh produce and frozen food on their platforms, which require fast delivery, he said.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
Tax revenue from securities transactions last month increased 41.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$30.3 billion (US$975.8 million), rising on an annual basis for the third consecutive month and marking the highest for the month of October as Taiwanese stocks continued to perform strongly, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday. Last month, the TAIEX surged 2,412.81 points, or 9.34 percent, marking its largest-ever monthly rise for October as market sentiment was buoyed by a nearly 15 percent gain in contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than 40 percent of the
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
RSS