Retailers set sights high for holiday break

Computer and electronics retailers hope consumers will reward themselves by spending some of their year-end bonuses on the latest and greatest in technology.

"It is natural that people desire to shop after being rewarded a pile of money, especially in the celebratory mood of the New Year," said Eileen Shou (守寍寍), spokeswoman for Tsann Kuen Group (燦坤), the country's largest consumer electronics and home appliance retailer.

Banking on people's strong purchasing power during the holidays, consumer electronics and home-appliance chain stores are eager to boost sales.

Retailers such as Tsann Kuen, E-Life Mall Co (全國電子), Tomorrow World Computer Chain Stores (明日世界電腦) and Sunfar Computers Co (順發電腦) have launched promotions targeting office employees and young shoppers.

"We expect that recordable DVD drives, Plasma TVs and LCD TVs will be popular products," said Richard Yu (余敬倫), Tsann Kuen's chief executive officer.

"Along with the popularity of digital cameras, output devices like all-in-one machines [which combine the functions of photocopiers, fax machines and printers] and upgraded color printers should be bestsellers as well," Yu said.

Eyeing young buyers with high purchasing power, Tsann Kuen will launch a series of promotions with a different theme each day from New Year's Day to the fifth day in the lunar calendar.

"Game consoles such as PlayStation 2 and Xbox, digital cameras, MP3 [players], music centers and laptops at competitive prices are our anchor products in these promotions," Shou said. "The 90-day deferred payment plus zero-interest, 12-month instalment plan finishing at the end of this February is another attraction."

The company hopes to generate sales of NT$400 million during the six-day holiday period," she added.

Tsann Kuen's major rival, E-Life, said that seven days prior to and eight days after the New Year are the peak time for the retailer and the company expects to see sales grow by 50 percent this month.

"Best-selling products before the New Year are mainly white goods, while popular commodities after the New Year are entertainment devices like music centers and karaoke machines," said Hsieh Wei-hsiung (謝維雄), E-life's assistant vice president of merchandise and marketing.

E-Life offers 180-day deferred payment -- longer than its rival's program -- with a no-interest, 12-month instalment plan.

While the two leading players are endeavoring to boost business, Tomorrow World, a computer and consumer electronics retailer with 48 outlets in the country, said the New Year holiday is not necessarily a lucrative period for the industry as more people are, as in Japan, spending more on leisure activities.

"That's why we closed our stores on the first two days during the New Year," said Thomas Huang (黃耀明), Tomorrow World's general manager.

But the company still offers customers a 20 percent cash rebate for each purchase made.

Sunfar, a Kaohsiung-based retailer with 25 outlets nationwide, agreed, noting that an IT fair in Kaohsiung that finished earlier this month may have satisfied people's desire to buy computers and electronics.

"But there should be no problem for us to see a rise of up to 30 percent in sales in the New Year month by offering a 12-month, no-interest instalment program for a selection of electronic products," said Sunfar's general manager Wu Chin-chang (吳錦昌).