Webinar Recap 1: Breaking into Taiwan’s Online Scene with Skimlinks Editorial Network

We were delighted to host our first APAC webinar in a new series, titled “Breaking into Taiwan’s Online Scene with Skimlinks Editorial Network” on 20 March 2023. The event featured two main speakers from Skimlinks – Devi Pitasari, Senior Merchant Development Manager (APAC), and Wenting Zheng, Commerce Content Team Lead – who shared invaluable insights on how to tap into the Taiwanese market by leveraging the Skimlinks Editorial Network.

This first blog provides a comprehensive summary of the initial webinar segments, covering: 

• Market landscape in Taiwan and Trends in the Market
• Introduction of Skimlinks Editorial Network (SEN)
• SEN Best Practice  

Market Landscape in Taiwan and Trends in the Market

Thinking of expanding your brand into Taiwan? It’s a smart move due to Taiwan’s high-income economy, strong purchasing power, and ranking as the fifth wealthiest nation globally in net financial assets per capita. Taiwan’s per capita GDP is expected to surpass Japan and South Korea this year and continue to outpace them in 2023, according to Taiwan News.

Moreover, Taiwan is an irresistible destination for merchants looking to increase their revenue through affiliate marketing in the online retail space. Statista predicts Retail Ecommerce Sales in Taiwan will hit 14 Billion USD by 2023, and the trend will persist for years.

Likewise, Skimlinks Network saw significant YoY traffic growth in Taiwan, thanks to mature publishers who consistently produced robust content and editorial plans throughout the year. Additionally, Skimlinks’ publisher acquisition strategy has enabled us to regularly onboard new publishers in the network, contributing to our growth up until now. 

Introducing: Skimlinks Editorial Network (SEN)

Skimlinks Editorial Network (SEN) is the Skimlinks in-house editorial team which assists publishers in increasing their affiliate revenue by generating content for them in high-converting verticals. In Q4 2022, articles produced through SEN generated a remarkable +54% higher Revenue Per Article compared to non-SEN articles. Additionally, in 2021, SEN contributed to a significant 103% YoY uplift in Order Value. It’s worth noting that in Q4 2022, 46% of total monetized articles were evergreen pieces created by SEN before that quarter. SEN collaborates with prestigious publishers in the market, including Vogue Taiwan, GQ Taiwan, Elle Taiwan, Harper’s Bazaar Taiwan, Cosmopolitan Taiwan, Women’s Health Taiwan, and Marie Claire Taiwan. By partnering with Skimlinks Editorial Network, brands and merchants have an excellent opportunity to gain premium exposure and establish partnerships in the Taiwanese market.

SEN Best Practice in Taiwan

In addition to their editorial expertise and enterprise exposure, the SEN team possesses extensive knowledge of the Taiwanese market. Almost 4 years ago, our Editors began building the commerce content presence with top-tier publishers from scratch, allowing us to become intimately familiar with the market. As a result, they can provide publishers with best practices in distribution channels, products, and content types.

Distribution channels

The best practice we recommend for publishers is to utilize whole channel distribution to ensure the best results and exposure: Homepage placement of a shopping section, Facebook, Instagram, newsletters and Line official account. For Facebook, publishers usually will share article links via post. Publishers usually would embed the article link in the Instagram story to push the content. For newsletters, publishers would have a regular slot to push commerce content. Line official account is a unique channel for Taiwan, Indonesian and Japan markets. Most of the media brands have official accounts in Line in these markets, and they share the article link just as a normal message to their subscribers. 

Products

Disney+ experienced a huge spike following its launch in November 2021, highlighting the popularity of live -streaming platforms in the country, which mirrors global trends. Through SEN, we consistently promote upcoming drama series on Disney+. 

Similarly, the Moschino Teddy Bubble Sneakers contributed to a spike in High-End Fashion in the market. This product was featured in articles when it was newly launched in Taiwan. For merchants, It is crucial to inform the SEN team about exciting new product launches, as they can craft the best articles to engage with the audience through premium publishers. Hotel Indigo (Travel), Beyond Yoga (Activewear) and Casetify (Mobile accessories) performed strongly as well. Casetify is one of the merchants who showed consistent strong performance throughout the year with multiple new product launches including brand collaborations. They also make use of featured commerce content offered by premium publishers to promote their products regularly.  

Content types

Deals content performs well during shopping events, such as Singles’ Day, Double 12, Black Friday and end of the year sales in Q4. What SEN recommends publishers to do is to have dedicated sales articles, plus the deals roundup articles at the same time. For merchants, you would have a high chance if you work closely with SEN and share your offer details with SEN in advance. This kind of article really resonates with the audience in Taiwan, as they tend to be more price sensitive and make savvy informed purchases. 

Stay tuned for our part two, which covers: 

• Multiple Ways for Merchants to Optimize
• Understanding the Market with GQ Taiwan – Interview with Stephen Chen, Site Director from GQ Taiwan
• How can merchants seize the opportunity?