E-Commerce

E-Commerce in Taiwan: Outlook & Retail Trends in 2023

Last Updated: October 30, 2023

How's The Development of E-Commerce in Taiwan?

Although Taiwan’s Internet penetration rate and mobile phone usage are higher than those of many countries, online transactions are very low. Only 42.8% of the population has used e-commerce, and the proportion of e-commerce transactions in total retail sales in 2019 is just at 5.3%. one of the countries with the lowest share of online retailing among advanced markets.

There are several factors behind this though. The first is that Taiwan’s urbanization is relatively complete. Therefore, for the vast majority of citizens, supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants are all within walking distance, and the popularity of motorcycles also makes groceries shopping relatively more convenient, so the demand for e-commerce is generally not high;

The second is that Taiwanese prefer to go to night markets, snacks, and street vendors when it comes to food, compared to other countries. Most consumers focus on eating outside. As a result, the proportion of e-commerce turnover in groceries is relatively low compared to other similar economies. And this is why the food delivery market has actively expanded to night markets and snack bars in the past three years.

The third reason is that compared with many economies, Taiwan’s retail industry is relatively slow in digitalization, which has caused a huge gap in the market. However, in the past five years, many retailers have actively invested in digitalization, e-commerce, and through Digital media interacts with consumers, which has also led to a substantial increase in the growth rate of online retailing since 2018.

Although Taiwan avoided the large-scale infection in the early stage of the epidemic, the island’s epidemic control (restriction of internal use, isolation policy) also made more consumers start to try delivery, which further cultivated many consumers. habits of e-commerce. In 2022, Taiwan’s e-commerce transactions accounted for about 9.5% of the overall retail sales, and it is expected to grow to 11.7% in 2026. At that time, the overall e-commerce market size is estimated to be 652.4 billion Taiwan dollars, equivalent to 23.2 billion US dollars.

The text above is a direct translation from Google. The original version can be found here.

Online & Offline Retail in Taiwan
Unit: Billion USD
Online & Offline Retail Growth in Taiwan
Unit: %
Retail Value Added (% of GDP) in Taiwan
Unit: %
E-Commerce Sales a a % of Retail in Taiwan
Unit: %

Competition Among E-Commerce Platforms in Taiwan

Judging from the latest data (June-September 2022), Shopee in Taiwan accounts for 44.83% of the overall e-commerce market traffic. However, due to its operating characteristics, its revenue in Taiwan is far less than Several major competitors. Although the parent company of Shopee did not separately report revenue in Taiwan, it is estimated that the revenue of Shopee is between 30 billion and 45 billion, which is less than that of MOMO and PC Home, and slightly higher than that of Dongsen.

Major e-commerce platforms such as MOMO, PC Home, and Eastern Home Shopping have all experienced substantial growth in the past five years, with double-digit figures in Taiwan dollars. Since MOMO surpassed PC Home in 2016, its revenue will remain stable in 2021 The champion, the overall revenue fell to 88.4 billion Taiwan dollars, and accounted for about 23.11% of the overall e-commerce revenue.

Financial Environment

Source: World Bank, Payment Providers, eMarketer

In Taiwan, There are about 53.5% of people use credit cards, and 74.4% of people use debit cards. While there are 42.8% of people purchase on the internet, there is only 32.6% of people with online banking accounts.

% of People With Financial Accounts
Unit: %
% of People with Credit Cards
Unit: %
% of People with Debit Cards
Unit: %
% of People Exchange Through Digital Channels
Unit: %
% of People Buy Through Online Channels
Unit: %
% of People with Internet Banking Accounts
Unit: %
% of People Pay Utility Bill Online
Unit: %
E-Commerce Sales as a % of Total Retail
Unit: %

Weekly Use of E-Commerce

Source: Statista Digital Market Outlook

E-Commerce Driving Factors

Source: GWI.com (Q3, 2021)

For E-Commerce Customers in TaiwanWhat are the major driving factors to purchasing online?

% of respondents think is their main drivers
Source: Multi-select survey
Reference
  • Retail Sales & E-Commerce Penetration: eMarketer, Edge By Ascential, Euromonitor Retail Passport
  • Currency: Based on IMF Data 2022/12
  • Consumer Behavior: Statista Digital Market Outlook
  • Retail Channels: Euromonitor, Local Association, Financial Reports (Of Relevant Retailers)
  • Data Compilation: OOSGA.org
  • Analysis: OOSGA CR Team Analytics
  •  
Author: CR Team

Our consumer research practice tracks what customers spend and how they make decisions across major economies in the world.

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