Taiwan’s online business is a fast growing market where Internet companies such as Google Inc. are able to make substantial profits, Stanley Chen, general manager of Google Taiwan, said May 3.
“Over the past five years since Google set up a branch office in Taiwan, we have seen the country’s online commerce expand vigorously, thanks to its swelling Internet population and high mobile device usage rate,” he said.
According to the Taiwan Network Information Center, Taiwan’s Internet penetration rate reached 73 percent in 2011, with 16.95 million of the nation’s total population of 23 million now regular Internet users.
The number of local netizens who access the Internet using mobile devices has risen to more than 4.9 million, Chen added, citing statistics from the Taipei-based Institute for Information Industry.
The manager made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei City during which he also shared the search engine giant’s analysis of recent online trends.
According to him, the words most frequently searched in connection with the upcoming Mother’s Day are cake, card and carnation.
Google has also found that online shoppers are inclined to place orders on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so that their goods can arrive on the weekend.
“The Internet has become closely interwoven with consumption in Taiwan,” Chen said. Google expects its online advertisement sales to increase at least twofold in 2012, he added. (HZW)
Write to Aaron Hsu at pj1210meister@mail.gio.gov.tw