According to the survey conducted by MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), 37% of Taiwan's Internet users were not particularly interested in China's "Singles Day" shopping event on November 11, 2015, 33% said that they would do online shopping on that day and 30% said they would not.

"Compared to 2014, where only 23% of Taiwan's Internet users were interested in joining China's largest online shopping event, the number is expected to have a 10 percentage point increase this year," says Rosa Chang, industry analyst with MIC. Based on the findings, 47% of Taiwan's Internet users considering shopping on Chinese online stores because it was a novel experience for them and 46% believed they could get big bargains. "Asides from staging sales promotions for this big event, some Chinese companies launched a dedicated promotional activities for Taiwanese Internet users that may boost their willingness to shop on Chinese online stores that day," says Chang.

According to MIC, merchandises that Taiwan's Internet users considered to purchase this year were apparel and accessories (37.6%), 3C products (27.1%) and luxury goods, shoes, and bags (10.1%). Other merchandise categories were all less than 10%.

30% of Taiwan's Internet Users Still Favor Local Online Stores

After analyzing Internet users who answered "not interested" and "may not be interested" in participating China's Singles Day shopping event, the results showed that 40% of them had no immediate shopping needs, 30% still preferred to purchase from Taiwan's online retailers. Meanwhile, up to 29% of them had no online shopping experience outside of Taiwan.

MIC found that there are still numerous of Taiwan's Internet users who were not too enthusiastic about doing online shopping on China's online stores. The possible barriers were shipping costs, waiting time and unfamiliarity with overseas online shopping avenues. On top of that, up to 30% of Taiwanese internet users still preferred shopping on local online stores.

Research Scope

MIC conducted a survey on Taiwanese Internet users' attitudes towards China's Singles Day shopping event from 12pm November 10 to 11 am November 11, 2015. An online questionnaire was designed to collect useful information about Taiwanese internet users' willingness to shop on three major Chinese online stores, namely Taobao, Tmall and JD, on November 11, 2015. The questionnaire was distributed, completed, and collected from Internet users who are active on PTT, Facebook and other online communities in Taiwan. Effective sample size was 313.