Taiwan’s upcoming shopping festivals should push e-commerce sales to another record this year, a government official said.

E-commerce turnover is up by 3 per cent year on year to NT$313.9 billion (US$9.6 billion) in the first half, CNA reported, citing the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Huang Wei-jie, deputy head of the MOEA’s Department of Statistics, told CNA that the growth coincided with the Covid pandemic when the public had to turn to online shopping to observe social distancing.

Last year, e-commerce sales reached NT$636.4 billion, up 2.6 per cent from the previous year.

The MOEA said that e-commerce accounted for 8.5 per cent of Taiwan’s consumer sales in 2019.

The sector then expanded to 11 per cent in 2020 and around 13 per cent per year between 2021 and 2023.