•Publication Date：06/10/2014
•Source： Taiwan Today
Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) signed a memorandum of understanding with Amazon.com Inc. June 9, paving the way for expanded e-commerce by local firms, the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the ROC Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
Under the memorandum, major local business-to-business website Taiwantrade, which was founded by TAITRA, will take advantage of Amazon’s global network to sell internationally.
The memorandum was signed at a TAITRA-sponsored forum detailing how the cooperation will open the e-commerce markets of Europe and the U.S. Besides seminars analyzing current market trends and operational strategies, the forum also set out the direction and specifics of the arrangement. The signing was witnessed by 572 Taiwan enterprises.
Internationalization of e-commerce must integrate the development of B2B and business-to-customer strategies, the bureau said, adding that in recent years, Taiwantrade has cooperated with international B2C platforms eBay and NewEgg to boost sales.
According to TAITRA Executive Vice President Simon Wang, Taiwantrade aims to help local firms use e-commerce to strengthen their competitiveness. About 67,000 companies have signed up, with details of more than 330,000 products available through the site, making it the nation’s biggest product database.
Taiwantrade’s online marketplace, iDealEZ, which provides a channel for small volume B2B transactions, already hosts online stores of more than 700 local companies after opening a year ago, Wang said.
David Yeh, Amazon China’s director of sales and onboarding, said Amazon would increase its operational weighting for Taiwan by offering local manufacturers tailor-made services and discount strategies.
Amazon has e-commerce websites in 13 locations around the world, with a logistics network spanning 65 countries and territories. With 200 million active users, it has about 33 percent of the consumer market.
