TAIPEI, 10/14/2008—Insightxplorer Limited, announces its Internet Auction Survey results and report.。

74.5% of buyers prefer Yahoo! Kimo to make purchases, whereas 56.7% of sellers prefer Ruten to sell their goods

　　The internet auction has already become a standard choice for modern shoppers; according to Insightxplorer’s October 9th survey, about 70% of Taiwanese have used an online auction service in the past three months, with 63% having purchased an item and 27.6% having made a sale. Most interesting was that the demands of buyers and sellers were different, with the auction site chosen by each group varying. The majority of buyers (74.5%) indicated that in the previous month they used Yahoo! Kimo most often, whereas the majority of sellers (56.7%) stated that they used Ruten most often.

　　Further examination shows trends among age groups as well. For selling, the 25-29 and 40 plus age groups used Yahoo! Kimo more than others, whereas the 20-24 group had a greater tendency to choose Ruten. In buying, however, the 35-39 age group had a greater tendency than the whole to use Ruten.

Auction buyers: 53.6% of respondents use online or physical ATM to pay

　　In paying for goods won through online auctions, 53.6% of buyers prefer to make electronic transfers via an online or physical ATM, with online or physical bank transfer and COD/store pickup being the next most popular means of payment. In comparing preferences across age, we see that the 25-29 age group has an obvious tendency to use an online or physical ATM more than other age groups, while the 19 and under group used COD/store pickup more often. Most interesting was the 35 plus group, who showed the greatest tendency to use credit cards.

　　In this survey we also asked about the Department of Rapid Transit Systems’s recent fine-enforced prohibition of transacting at Taipei MRT stations. Among both online traders and the general public, this policy seems to have low support (support was rated on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being a low level of support and 10 a high level). Those choosing 1, the lowest level of support, made up 43.7% of respondents, with the most cited reason being, “fining people is unreasonable as it is just a single transaction not setting up a stall.” In addition, many of the 40 plus respondents worried, “what if someone buys their friend a train ticket and gets fined for giving it to them?” Responses overall showed there is some definite dissatisfaction with this move.

　　Insightxplorer CEO Jason Chiang had this to say about the findings: “Online auctions have created a unique industry, giving internet users more choices. In light of the way people choose different auction sites based on their different needs as buyers and sellers, sites should concentrate not just on volume, but rather should take advantage of the seeming homogeneity in the market to seek out innovative business models and services that will differentiate their site and add brand value.”　

About Insightxplorer:

Insightxplorer provides expansive market research on internet and consumer trends in Taiwan. We meticulously maintain a high quality database comprised of a semi-fixed set of Taiwan’s most representative internet users, which combined with our proprietary NetRoverTM technology, yields the best third party internet activity analysis—Access Rating Online (ARO). Insightxplorer’s exclusive Internet Audience Measurement system is the only third party provider of user-based internet usage statistics in Taiwan.

Insighxplorer also brings traditional market research techniques to the internet in novel ways. Using the instantaneous, one-on-one, fully interactive possibilities of the internet, we provide an up-to-the-minute, systematic market research system, IX Survey, which is based upon Taiwan’s largest scale internet panel: CyberPanel-Taiwan. Through this unique facility, we provide marketing professionals around the world a platform for high-speed qualitative and quantitative research on Taiwan.

Finally, using ARO and IX Survey results to get a full picture of dynamic market trends, we will soon be providing real time analysis so our clients can further understand developments in the market and the characteristics of consumers, helping them optimize their marketing decisions.