People who are short of cash can now enjoy buying goods on credit without paying any interest to observe Chinese New Year, as a home appliance retailer kicks off its New Year promotions to lure customers.
E-Life Mall Corp (全國電子), one of the nation's leading consumer electronics and home appliance chains, yesterday launched its happy-new-year promotions, offering customers a 12-month, zero-interest loan service and installment payment project, which runs from today through Feb. 28, in alliance with France's Celetem Bank Taipei Branch.
PHOTO: WANG PEI-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
The promotion plan offers consumers loans of the same amount as their purchasing value.
For instance, consumers who purchase products to the value of NT$50,000 in E-Life can apply for a NT$50,000 loan from Celetem and pay it back in installments over 12 months while the retailer takes care of the interest costs.
E-Life's president Alex Tsai (蔡振豪) said the service could help consumers manage their budget while celebrating the Lunar New Year.
With such an offer, the company projected sales of NT$2.4 billion during the two-month promotion period, up from NT$2.2 billion a year ago, Tsai said.
E-Life generated a profit of about NT$460 million, or NT$4.6 per share, on annual revenue of NT$11.4 billion last year in its 248 outlets across the nation. The company plans to open 20 more outlets this year but declined to make a financial forecast for this year before the board's approval.
In addition to the regular consumer's purchasing sprees, companies' procurements of home appliances as gifts to staffers in their year-end banquets, or so-called Wei Ya (
Tsai predicted sales for Wei Ya gifts to grow 20 percent this year from a year ago, with items like digital/flat-panel televisions, digital video recorders and digital cameras expected to perform well.
Other retailers are also eager to take a slice of the yearly bonanza.
"We have seen many companies order NT$1 million-worth of cou-pons or over 20 plasma/liquid-crystal-display TVs as Wei Ya gifts," said Belinda Chen, public relations director of Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co (
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