Taiwan-based Neweb Technologies Co. Ltd. entered into an alliance May 10 with mainland China’s biggest shopping portal 360buy.com, as part of an effort to sell more Taiwan products in the mainland through the Internet.
Neweb Technologies is a leading third-party payment processor for online transactions in Taiwan. It has more than 2,000 business partners at home and abroad, including Citibank Taiwan Co. Ltd., Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. and Yahoo Inc., according to the Institute for Information Industry, which helped bring about the cross-strait cooperative venture.
Beijing-based 360buy.com, also known as Jingdong Mall, is the largest Internet retailer in the mainland. It accounted for 50.1 percent of the domestic online retailing market share in the first quarter of the year, the institute added.
The two parties agreed to expand the presence of Taiwan-made goods on the shopping website, especially those from the agriculture, cosmetics and cultural and creative sectors. When the number of advertised items reaches 500,000, the mainland side will set up an area exclusively for Taiwan products.
Neweb Technologies will also act as the import agent responsible for helping manufactures from Taiwan clear customs, handle logistics and obtain sales certificates, officials from the information institute said.
“The joint project will significantly increase the visibility and profitability of Taiwan companies,” the officials said, adding that transactions at 360buy.com, which amounted to nearly US$4.75 billion in 2011, are expected to double by year-end.
The information institute said the project is part of a Cabinet-approved initiative approved in 2010 to promote electronic commerce by uniting online markets from Taiwan and the mainland.
The objective of the initiative is to increase Taiwan’s e-market value to NT$1 trillion (US$34.25 billion) by 2015, with more than 82,000 job opportunities created in the process. (HZW)
Write to Aaron Hsu at pj1210meister@mail.gio.gov.tw