🇹🇼Consumers in December=Digital Payments📈e-commerce⬇️ Live-Streaming🎆

Taiwan Consumers in December-Monthly Update

Been meaning to do these monthly updates for a while. This is the basic lowdown on what has happened in Taiwan retail and consumer behavior in the past month. All highlights and no fluff😎

1. Taiwan consumers finally embrace digital payments in 2022

   

   
   A constant complaint from both tourists and Taiwanese returning from overseas has been the relatively slow uptake of digital payments on the island. Cash has remained king for a while, meaning you annoyingly still need to carry a wallet, as the rest of the world has shifted digital.

   In 2022, attitudes have clearly changed. A survey conducted by Mastercard of 1,000 Taiwanese from Oct. 27 to Nov. 9, found that 68 percent of consumers registered at least one new digital wallet this year. Around 1 out of every 10 consumers in Taiwan expressed that they never use cash anymore and 70% state that using digital payments has become a daily practice(this has more than doubled from 31% in 2021).

2. momo is the only winner in a disappointing year for e-commerce platforms

   Taiwan e-commerce growth seems to have significantly slowed and local hero momo seems to be the emperor in perpetuity.

   

   
   This is the sentiment of the President of competitor ET Mall(東森購物), Wang Linglin in an interview in December. ETMall parent company Dong Sen are reinvesting in physical retail through shopping malls, after a decade of focus on e-commerce. Wang believes that momo has already tied up the market and there is little chance for competition. What makes this statement surprising is that ETMall has been one of the strongest performers in Taiwan e-commerce over the last five years, with its earnings per share getting to NT$ 17.74 in 2021, a whisker away from momo at NT$ 18.02.
   
   In general Taiwan, e-commerce has slowed across the board. No e-commerce platform registered annual revenue growth from the previous year, apart from momo, which managed a slender 2%.

3. Consumer confidence at a record low
   Wu Daren, executive director of the Taiwan Economic Development Research Center of National Central University announced at a press conference in December that consumer confidence had fallen to 59.12, not only the lowest of this year but also for over 13 years (the economic crisis of 2008)
   
   The main reason given is that exports are down significantly, which has had a knock-on effect on the whole economy. Slowing exports are a by-product of global inflation and less demand from Taiwan’s trading partners.
   

4. Livestreaming is now a key retail channel and cannot be avoided

   According to the ‘Consumer Eye’ survey released by Group M, live streaming/live commerce has reached mass adoption and should now be a component of every brand’s retail strategy

   
   42% of consumers expressed willingness to buy brands and products they have never heard of through live streaming. This represents a huge shift from last year when MIC survey data, showed that 26.4% of Taiwanese are willing to purchase an item for a live stream, which in itself was 4.4% higher than in 2020