A improved economy and price-cutting strategies are expected to help the hypermarket sector maintain the strong growth seen in the first quarter, while convenience store operators are hoping for fair weather and introducing more services to give their flat revenue growth a shot in the arm, industry veterans said yesterday.
"As the economy improves, consumers return to retail venues and they might feel no difference spending NT$10 more each time," said Allan Tien (田中玉), spokesman for the nation's largest hypermarket chain Carrefour, which reported 15 percent growth in its first quarter sales.
Immediate effect
Considering customer traffic in the retailer's 34 outlets usually hits 200,000 to 300,000 people a day, shoppers' less cautious attitude in spending when the economy improves immediately translates into bumper sales for retailers, he added.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs late last week, the hypermarket sector reported NT$13.9 billion in revenues in January, partly boosted by Lunar New Year buying. This represents a big jump from NT$10.5 billion in November and NT$11.5 billion in December.
The sector last year was battered by news reports that flawed household appliances had been sold by hypermarkets, undercutting consumer confidence as well as total annual sales.
Kaufmann Wei (
RT-Mart, a Taiwanese-French hypermarket venture, posted 20 percent growth in sales between January and March.
Monthly sales in the saturated convenience store sector, however, have fluctuated at around NT$13.5 billion over the past few months, although new outlets were opened every week.
According to ministry figures, convenience store chains reported NT$13 billion in sales in January, down 2.43 percent from the previous month, while the entire retail sector (including department stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets) posted 2.26 percent growth over the same period.
Yeh Jung-ting (
Stormy weather
"Cold or rainy weather discourages customers from buying drinks, which constitute nearly 30 percent of our stores' product mix," he said.
Although weather will continue to play a major role in these companies' fiscal performances, Yeh expects Taiwan FamilyMart to post double-digit growth from last year's NT$27.3 billion, by creating consumer demand and opening another 150 outlets throughout the nation.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”