Online retailer Newegg to expand to six more countries by end of June

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Held on the last day of Computex, Newegg's Computex roundtable panel came with a surprise announcement for attendees. The online retailer specialising in electronic goods will soon be expanding to six new countries -- India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and Singapore -- on top of the current four countries (US, Canada, UK and Australia) it currently serves.

The expansion is part of the company's plan to go global, and Newegg will also add localization such as translations to better serve these new markets.

For those not in the know, Newegg offers plenty of hardware components such as solid state drives, graphic cards, cases and processors at attractive prices, and is usually a good place to hunt for parts for your new PC.

Newegg claims impressive numbers for its business. Portable gaming laptops have scored a 90 percent year on year growth, while PC sales have grown over 51 percent since last year. Newegg's chief marketing officer Soren Mills says gaming and e-sports are the next big thing, and the company is in a position to take advantage of this.

To further grow its business, the e-retailer is taking advantage of its roots in Asia, in particularly Taiwan, where the company's founder and former CEO is from. By selling their products through Newegg, Newegg says Asian companies are able to easily expand outside of their native domains into the lucrative markets of the US and UK.

Of course, whether their plans will succeed is heavily dependent on the pricing. Singapore, a country I'm familiar with, has a robust component market and getting new parts for a PC is a very simple affair.

A quick check on pricing for certain components showed that while they are definitely cheaper by a fair amount, this does not take into account taxes and shipping. It remains to be seen if Newegg will adjust pricing for its new markets (which may then make it not as good a deal).

Newegg's previous venture into Malaysia has pretty much failed, with operations ceasing last December. Mills said that the Malaysian venture was done with the assistance of a third-party vendor, and that it didn't quite meet expectations.

Instead, Newegg will be approaching its six new markets with a new strategy. The company will ship orders from the US first, and will follow up with "a physical presence to serve local demand."

Lastly, the company is still evaluating the use of Bitcoin for payments -- Mills said that Newegg has had a lot of requests from its customers, and that "it's certainly something we're considering and looking at carefully."