Credit card spending on food delivery services rose to about NT$1.2 billion (US$40.6 million) in April, the highest ever in a single month, as more consumers turned to delivery services amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) statistic showed.
It marked a growth of 140 percent from about NT$500 million in September last year, the commission told a news conference in New Taipei City on Thursday.
The number of transactions through food delivery service apps jumped to 6.1 million in April, about three times higher than in September last year, the commission said.
However, average spending per transaction fell 19 percent from NT$244 in September last year to NT$197 in April, which could likely be attributed to more small restaurants joining the food delivery platforms, it said.
As more consumers preferred delivery services than dining out due to pandemic fears, it was not surprising to see the increase, it said, adding that people who were quarantined or self-isolating for 14 days during the outbreak could often only order meals through the platforms.
Even though some platforms allow customers to pay cash, most users preferred to pay via credit card, as it was more convenient and hygienic, it said.
Overall, online food order and delivery services are more popular among younger people, with users aged under 45 making up 90 percent of the total, the commission said.
Users aged between 25 and 35 accounted for 50 percent of the total, followed by those aged 35 to 45, it added.
The food delivery platforms included in the statistics are Uber Eats Taiwan, Foodpanda, Foodomo and locally developed YoWoo Delivery (有無外送).
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary