PChome Online Inc’s (網路家庭) consolidated revenue reached NT$3.86 billion (US$129.6 million) last month, down 1.2 percent from the previous month and 9.93 percent from a year earlier, the e-commerce company said in a regulatory filing yesterday.
The figure reflects the firm’s sales performance across all of its business units, including business-to-consumer e-commerce, online marketplace and fintech, it said, without providing a detailed revenue breakdown for last month.
Taiwan’s eased COVID-19 restrictions have resulted in increased sports and outdoor activities, which boosted online sales of picnic and camping items, sports shoes and apparel, the company said.
Photo: CNA
Rising health awareness during the COVID-19 pandemic also propped up online sales of health food items, it added.
Ahead of the summer break last month, sales of board games and gaming devices, as well as Apple Inc products, posted double-digit percentage growth from a month earlier, the firm said.
Sales of electric fans and air-conditioners also rose significantly, as people want to keep cool during summer, PChome said.
Second-quarter revenue was NT$11.18 billion, down 4.52 percent quarter-on-quarter and 4.71 percent year-on-year, company data showed.
Revenue in the first six months of this year totaled NT$22.89 billion, a 1.44 percent drop from the same period last year, the company said. That compares with a 0.49 percent annual increase in sales in the first five months.
The slump in revenue came as PChome CEO Kevin Tsai (蔡凱文) on Monday last week resigned his post and his seat on the company’s board effective immediately, citing career plans, the company said in a regulatory filing at the time.
Chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) is to serve as acting CEO before the company’s board of directors appoints a new CEO, the filing said.
Tsai's resignation was not without cause. While PChome posted revenue of NT$48.58 billion last year, up 10.7 percent from 2020, its net profit plunged 61.5 percent year-on-year to NT$97.44 million, with earnings per share dropping from NT$2.16 to NT$0.84.
Analysts linked the poor performance to PChome being slow to respond to intensifying competition in the local e-commerce market and a changing business environment.
The company’s dire situation continued in the first quarter of this year, when it reported net losses of NT$32 million, or losses per share of NT$0.25, prompting an outcry from shareholders on June 22. Jan at the time pledged to cut his salary to zero and halve the CEO’s pay if the company’s bottom line did not improve by the end of this year.
While e-commerce remains the company’s core business, accounting for about 99 percent of its total sales, PChome has in recent years branched into other businesses to diversify its revenue sources, such as mobile payment, “buy now, pay later” and third-party electronic payment services.
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