Despite a slow economy, Taiwan's leading bookstore chain, Eslite Corp (誠品), is banking on clearing out "out-of-fashion" publications to boost revenue and reduce inventories, the company said yesterday.
Eslite, which has built enviable brand recognition among Taiwan's locals and foreigners alike, said it expects to rake in NT$10 million through an annual clearance sale of publications it started selling more than one year ago. The sale started on Tuesday and will run through Nov. 17.
The clearance sale will happen in two stages, said Nina Lee (
The second stage, which will feature English-language publications and children's books, will be from Nov. 8 to Nov. 17 at the Eslite outlet on Tunhua South Road.
Overall, the prices of more than 80,000 Chinese-language publications, thousands of CDs and DVDs as well as more than 30,000 English-language publications will be cut by as much as 80 percent, Lee said.
"Nearly 20,000 customers came to us on the first day of the sale [on Tuesday]," Lee said, "The estimated sales were about NT$2.5 million on that day alone," compared to daily sales of NT$1.8 million on average last year, Lee said.
This is the sixth year Eslite has joined forces with domestic publishers and book importers to clear out-of-fashion publications. The company is scheduled to open its 50th store by the end of the year and earned about NT$8 million in revenue through last year's sales. It reported NT$3.7 billion in revenue for 2001.
"Given the first day's performance, we are very confident of this year's sales," Lee said.
Most bookworms at the sale who were interviewed by the Taipei Times were upbeat about the event.
"I came here to hunt for cheaper children's books and cooking recipes, because these publications can never become outdated," said Chen Feng-chi (陳芬琪), 35, a housewife and mother of two.
"It's very nice to get marked-down music CDs at Eslite's annual sales, especially as we can listen first before buying" said Sharon Lin (林書瑤), 20, a sophomore at National Taiwan University.
However, one of Eslite's "loyal customers" expressed dissatisfaction.
"I am disappointed ? because I can't find any books I really want," said Jason Lin (林季陽), 22, an Eslite book-club member studying at National Taiwan University.
As the publications sold at Eslite's annual sale are also available in other discount bookstores, the event does not make Eslite any different from its competitors, but has rather "more or less hurt Eslite's brand image," Lin said.
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