Taiwanese spend one-tenth monthly salary on Singles Day shopping spree: survey

TAIPEI -- The majority of employees in Taiwan will join the annual Singles' Day shopping spree and spend about one-tenth of their monthly salary on average, a poll showed Friday.

About 82 percent of the surveyed 1,143 respondents said they will shop online during the shopping festival, spending 4,283 new Taiwan dollars (142 US dollars) on average, according to the poll by local online human resource platform 1111 Job Bank.

About 21 percent said they rarely miss the annual online sales while about 60 percent of them take a more targeted approach to products with alluring prices, the survey showed.

Instigated by Chinese mainland e-commerce giant Alibaba as the Chinese version of Black Friday, Singles' Day, which falls on November 11, has grown into an annual online shopping fiesta.

Electronics, clothes, cosmetics and daily necessities are the most popular products Taiwanese employees rush to purchase at discounted prices.

Online shopping has become part of life in Taiwan, the survey pointed out, with Taiwanese spending about one hour browsing online shopping platforms every day and spending 3,188 new Taiwan dollars each month on average.

About 90 percent of the respondents believe that online shopping can save them about nine percent on prices on average compared with shopping at brick-and-mortar stores, according to the survey.