PChome Online (GTSM: 8044 TT) is the largest ecommerce group in Taiwan and has complete platform coverage in the Amazon-type of B2C ecommerce of selling directly to end consumers (PChome), Rakuten-type of B2B2C platform (PChomeStore) to support the online SME merchants who in turn sell to the end consumers, and the eBay-type of C2C auction site (Ruten) where individuals buy and sell to one another. PChome Group was founded in 1998 as a portal service provider by Chairman HT Jan and Arthur Lin In 2000. PChome established a B2C ecommerce platform in 2000 and originally focused on selling 3C (computer, communication, consumer electronics) products and started to sell non-3C products (e.g. healthcare, furniture, home appliances) in 2012, increasing its non-3C product mix from 20% in early 2012 to 30% currently, continuing its secular growth with greater market share gain over hypermarkets. PChomeStore (4965 TT, MV $125m), the B2B2C platform for SMEs launched in 2005, was spun off in Apr 2010 and listed in Apr 2011 with PChome retaining a 59.9.% stake. The company formed a JV with eBay (PChome 65%, eBay 35%) to run the C2C auction site Ruten in 2006. PChomePay was launched in 2012 to provide third-party payment service for Ruten.
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About The Author: Koon Boon Kee
Koon Boon is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets.
Starting his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore and later, at Korea’s largest mutual fund company, Koon Boon started to make headway into the investment arena. In his early successes, Koon Boon was part of the core investment decision committee which achieved 700% in returns (net of fees), in its flagship Asian fund.
A prolific writer and thought leader, Koon Boon has contributed hundreds of articles to Bamboo Innovator and BeyondProxy, an acclaimed series of subscription-based, research-intensive publications for serious investors; and is Managing Editor of the Moat Report Asia, a research service focused exclusively on highlighting undervalued wide-moat businesses in Asia. He had also presented in top banking and finance conferences in Sydney, Cape Town, HK and Beijing, as well as in the Emerging Value Summit and Wide Moat Investing Summit. His work has been featured in local and international media such as, TEDxWallStreet, Investopia, BeyondProxy, Greatinvestors.tv, Jakarta Post, Straits Times Singapore, TODAY Singapore, Business Times Singapore, as well as a publication in the BoğaziçiJournal.
With the wide occurrences of financial fraud committed by listed firms in China during 2015, Koon Boon went to further his studies, from which he saw a gap in the curriculum for accounting fraud. He went on to pioneer the first-of-its-kind course on Accounting Fraud in Asia, which is now an official course in the SMU curriculum.
Today Koon Boon is the Chief Investment Officer at 8I Holdings Limited, where he is responsible for the sustainable growth and outperformance of listed Asian equities investments in the Hidden Champions Fund.
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