Nearly half of Taiwan’s Internet users are online shoppers, with the value of their total purchases estimated at more than NT$85 billion (US$2.62 billion) over the past year, results of an annual survey on the country’s digital divide said yesterday.
The survey by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC), found that 49.5 percent of Internet users have made online purchases.
Some 71 percent of online shoppers mentioned “convenience” as their motivation for making online purchases, with the five most popular products listed as clothing and accessories; books; hotel reservations and flights, train and bus tickets; household items; and home electronics.
On average, each online shopper spent NT$13,565 over the past year.
The survey was carried out between July 20 and Sept. 3 among 16,131 people via telephone. It had a margin of error of 0.8 percentage points.
Based on the results, the RDEC estimated there were 13.71 million Internet users aged 12 and older in the country, up 700,000 from last year, with the increase most obvious among the older segment of the population.
The results showed that 64.2 percent of those in the 41 years old to 50 years old age group were Internet users, compared with 58.6 percent last year, while the rate of Internet use among the 51 years old to 60 years old age group had risen from 35.5 percent to 40.5 percent.
The results also show that Web2.0 technology is popular among Internet users under 30, especially those aged between 15 years old and 20 years old.
Among users in this age group, 57.7 percent often visit their own blogs or those of others, and 35.1 percent do so occasionally.
More than 60 percent of Internet users aged under 20 have set up their own personal blogs, and young users are especially active in raising questions and expressing their opinions on the Internet, the results showed.
On the regional divide in terms of digitization, Hsinchu City, Taipei City and Taichung City — where more than 70 percent of residents have used the Internet — have been rated as the country’s three most digitized cities.
However, the rate of Internet use is lower than 60 percent among residents in Pingtung County, Penghu County and Chiayi County, where farming is the dominant economic activity and where there is a relatively large elderly population.
The survey also showed an obvious gender divide in terms of computer and Internet access among those aged 50 and older, with the rate of computer and Internet use among women lagging behind that of men by 7 percentage points to 10 percentage points.
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