Taiwan’s e-commerce market experienced rapid growth in 2021, driven primarily by the severe outbreak of local infections that summer. Yet as life has more or less returned to normal, the appeal of physical retail regained strength. As a result, companies are now launching business models that merge online and offline channels. As Taiwan flirted with…
In an era of unprecedented global trade and technological disruption, supply chain logistics has become ever more important to the functioning of the world economy. Yet few often stop to think about the complexity and scale of the industry that supports the storage and movement of goods from factory floor to consumer hands. In Taiwan,…
Data indicates that Taiwanese shoppers favor products and brands that foster environmental protection and sustainability, while the government has aggressively promoted green procurement in both the public and private sectors. To meet the growing demand and catch up with international trends, local manufacturers are increasingly “greening” their production processes. It should come as no surprise…
Companies with appropriate business models have continued to be viable. Most of the leading international companies that were once active in Taiwan’s life insurance industry have long since exited the market. The list includes Aegon, Aetna, ING, Manulife, MetLife, New York Life, and Winterthur. Now it appears likely that one of the few remaining major…
Success as a virtual bank in Taiwan would bring the Japanese messaging app closer to super app status In Taiwan, Japanese messaging app LINE is best known for its cartoonish stickers of furry creatures. LINE’s emojis telegraph the kawaii (literally “cute” in Japanese) culture of Japan many Taiwanese adore. Once hooked on the free stickers,…
As global advances in e-commerce and financial technology (“fintech”) catalyze change in insurance markets, how can Taiwan enable insurers to provide individuals and families with the full insurance coverage they need and close the insurance “protection gap”? In the recently published 2017 Taiwan White Paper, the Insurance Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in…
Despite regulatory travails, Alibaba’s C2C e-commerce platform is steadily finding a niche with young, bargain-hunting shoppers. When she wants to shop for clothes, Carrie Chen picks up her smartphone and clicks on the Taobao app. The Chinese e-commerce portal – which is owned and operated by e-commerce giant Alibaba – lists hundreds of thousands of…
As more and more Taiwanese shift to online shopping, traditional merchants are losing business. Not long ago, I visited Taipei’s camera district in search of a Fuji X100T, a compact digital camera capable of producing professional-quality images. The X100T is one of only a few cameras Fuji still manufactures in Japan, and is considered superior…
With smartphone penetration rates exceeding 65%, Internet penetration at 80%, and a quarter of the population using at least three connected devices, Taiwan is among the most connected nations in the world. This connectivity is reflected in Taiwan’s surging e-commerce, which has grown on average at 10-20% annually for the past five years, reaching nearly…
The introduction of mobile and third-party payment platforms is expected to bolster the nation’s burgeoning e-commerce market. Taiwan’s payments industry is getting a needed shakeup with the adoption of contactless technology to facilitate mobile transactions and the passage new legislation to legalize third-party electronic payment services. Those changes will not fundamentally alter the island’s payments…
