What will 2004 hold for the nation's computer and consumer electronics retailers? Far from being the Year of the Monkey, industry insiders predict it will be the Year of War.
"Competition between E-Life Mall Co (
"Competition will continue this year and it will involve all of the nation's computer and electronics chain retailers," Huang said.
E-Life, the nation's leading consumer electronics retailer with 222 stores, and Tsann Kuen, which has 134 outlets, are offering deferred payment plans and no-interest 12-month installment programs in a bid to secure their customer base in a market that analysts and industry veterans said has reached saturation point.
Computer and consumer electronics retail chains emerged in Taiwan in the early 1990s. The establishment of Nova Plaza computer shopping center in 1987 near the Taipei Railway Station (
Over the years, the size of the computer and consumer electronics retail market, worth more than NT$200 billion, has to a virtual standstill with little space for growth, said Hsieh Wei-hsiung (謝維雄), E-life's assistant vice president of merchandise and marketing.
"Only retailers that offer customers attractive promotions, quality products at preferential prices and prompt services can make progress in this industry," Hsieh said.
Promotions, in particular, have become a must-do to boost sales.
"We found an obvious decrease in our sales during the period of no promotion activities," said Eileen Shou (
Retailers have also banked on plans to diversify their product category to woo different segment of customers and thus increase their customer base.
Take E-Life. The company decided earlier this month to team up with Hewlett Packard Taiwan in marketing HP-brand computers and peripherals, targeting young office employees. Currently, home appliances account for 90 percent of E-life's product lineup, with computers and consumer electronics making the remainder. The company may keep enhancing its electronic products to echo consumers' needs.
E-Life achieved a 35-percent increase in annual sales at NT$9.5 billion last year.
"With the new strategy, we hope to reach similar growth rate this year, with the opening of 40 more outlets," Hsieh said.
Unlike E-Life, Tsann Kuen said it would shift its focus to expanding its retail business in China.
"Eyeing the estimated 7-percent GDP growth in China, 10-percent rise in its retailing and the 30-percent increase in the electronics and home appliance market there, we plan to open more than 100 outlets in China in 2004," Wu Tsann-kuen (
Tsann Kuen started its retail business in China in the mid-2002 and has opened around 40 stores for now. It hopes to expand the outlet number to more than 160 in Taiwan and 100 in China's eastern and northern regions by the end of this year.
The group generated NT$37 billion in sales last year, an increase of about 40 percent compared to the previous year.
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