There are currently a large variety of e-commerce applications. Here, we will provide an overview of e-commerce applications in Taiwan in the following areas: cloud commerce applications, mobile commerce applications, O2O (Online-to-Offline) development, social commerce applications, Internet marketing and public welfare e-commerce applications.
When it comes to cloud commerce applications, two of the most successful corporations that come to mind are Google and Amazon. These pioneers of cloud servers and cloud computing capabilities have brought tremendous benefits and convenience to small and medium e-commerce enterprises. Small and medium e-commerce enterprises or traditional industries that have just established online presences do not have to concern themselves with hardware technology or complex software calculations once they have adopted the cloud computing platform. Technologies that were once available only to large corporations are now available to small and medium enterprises at minimal cost, which is a great advantage to them. With regard to cloud services in Taiwan, KKBOX currently offers cloud-based music streaming, and there are also cross-sector collaboration efforts such as telecom user services jointly provided by Taiwan Mobile and Evernote.
In the area of mobile commerce applications, as smart devices, mobile Internet and NFC (Near Field Communication) technologies become widespread, mobile applications are now among the focus of development. Mobile commerce is characterized by customer-centric strategies, a "less is more" philosophy, always-online service, highly integrated experiences, bundled social management, and transaction security assurance. Mobile commerce is useful only when it can be accessed anywhere, anytime. In Taiwan, e-commerce platforms are also being actively developed to incorporate mobile services. For example, Yahoo! Taiwan is actively pursuing the development of mobile websites. Groupon and Gomaji have also developed cell phone apps for placing orders on their mobile commerce platforms. New software development companies specializing in mobile commerce apps have sprung up. In Taiwan telecom carriers are also actively targeting mobile payment capabilities, as mobile commerce is currently a field coveted by many.
Regarding the development of O2O (Online-to-Offline, or group buying) applications, TrialPay founder and CEO Alex Rampell proposed the concept of O2O in August 2010, which has since become an appealing business model. The idea of Online-to-Offline is: Displaying offline products and services on the web and enabling consumers to preorder and pay for them online via information integration or discounts. Internet shoppers are then directed to offline stores to receive the goods or services. Group buying is currently the dominant example of the O2O business model. After a fierce battle among group buying vendors in Taiwan, major players that now remain include Groupon Taiwan, GOMAJI, ife, 123.com.tw, JigoCity, Yahoo! Taiwan Discount+, 17Shopping and Josho.Yam.com. O2O is one of the hottest topics in e-commerce this year, and it has been given the enormous responsibility of attracting traditional industries to join the digital revolution.
Social commerce is the conducting of the entire process of online shopping via interpersonal or social relationships. Examples of social commerce include the business opportunities arising from recommending products to friends and family, and persuading fellow netizens to make group purchases, as well as sharing experiences, posting comments and discussing and evaluating products and services on social websites. Several social commerce business models have been attempted by vendors in Taiwan: Enhancing community features on e-commerce platforms, incorporating e-commerce plug-ins on social networking sites, deploying the "We the Media" model on social networking sites, one-on-one recommendations, Q&A, expert models, joint purchasing, consumer participation in social commerce, and community shopping guide websites.
In Internet marketing applications, following the rise of the Internet, e-commerce has become the primary battlefield of global corporations. As a result, greater importance is attached to skills and knowledge associated with Internet marketing, such as online advertising, community management, big data and other factors that will influence consumers' perception and decision-making processes or even gain intimate knowledge of their consumption behaviors. The most common approaches to Internet marketing include: Online advertising, search engine optimization, social media marketing, We the Media marketing, content marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, mobile advertising, customer relationship management and public relations activities. The particular choice of Internet marketing depends on what the enterprise believe is the most suitable approach.
With the Internet reaching virtually every corner of the world, public welfare e-commerce applications are now a reality. More resources can be generated through the Internet, which is playing a very important in promoting public welfare and charitable contributions. For example, News&Market, a website created in 2011, focuses on issues related to agriculture, food and the environment, and it has since become a benchmark corporate website. In addition to special reports, the website has also set up an online sales mechanism to help farmers market their products. Go Grandriders is a documentary that has attracted a great deal of attention; it depicts a group of senior citizens traveling around Taiwan on motorcycles. The film was introduced to the world on Youtube as well as through word of mouth. Originally it was just a plan to fulfill a life-long dream but it has now achieved feature film status. Finally, NPOchannel provides a platform for charitable donations, bringing together public welfare organizations so that they can help people around the country who are in need.
