Online Group Shopping Takes Off in Taiwan

As part of the trend toward Web.2.0, or user-centered online activity, online group shopping has been catching on rapidly among shoppers in Taiwan since its emergence two to three years ago. The value of group online shopping will likely soar by 25% to NT$8.95 billion (US$308.6 million at NT$29:US$1) this year, according to the Market Intelligence Center (MIC), a unit of the Institute for Information Industry (III).

Group online shopping is especially popular among salaried persons and housewives, thanks to the handsome discounts it offers. The number of group-shopping websites has mushroomed; two of them, ihergo and Rakuten, reported revenue growth of over 30% last year. Groupon, the largest group-shopping website in the U.S., acquired Map last year, attracted mainly by the appeal of its massive group-shopping business. Even the major portal sites Kimo!Yahoo and PChome have launched group-shopping platforms, and Plurk and Facebook are further promoting group shopping.

Established in 2007, ihergo is the champion in the field, with over 100,000 members and 2,000 online families, the largest of which have over 3,000 members. The site, which boasts over 1,000 group shopping cases every month, derives its income mainly from online ads.

Any member of a group shopping site can serve as the organizer for a group shopping spree to achieve lower prices, free delivery, and other benefits for large-volume purchases. The organizer will be responsible for distributing the products at designated sites after receiving them. The largest category of purchases is food, with other popular categories including restaurant coupons, health-club membership cards, and even 3C products.

Industry insiders are upbeat about the prospects of online group shopping, since only 10% of online shoppers are involved so far, according to III statistics.

Other sectors of B2C e-commerce will also continue racking up robust growth in Taiwan this year, thanks to a mature infrastructure and a massive online population of more than 15 million. MIC predicts that Taiwan's B2C market will expand 24% to NT$254.6 billion (NT$8.5 billion) this year, following an only slightly lower growth of 23.6% in 2010. Major items moved on the B2C market are apparel, beauty-care products, and information technology and electronics products.

Kimo!Yahoo expects to rack up a 30% growth in its online shopping business this year, after breaking the NT$10 billion (US$330 billion) mark last year. PChome, which is listed on the GreTai Market (over-the-counter market), saw its B2B revenue climb 22.9% to NT$9.2 billion (US$307 million) in the first 11 months of 2010.