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Hypermarkets offer 24-hour service during New Year

"The 24-hour service ... will not only enable customers to shop at their own convenience, but will also help the stores to spread out weekend crowds."

Dream Lin, public relations manager at Carrefour Taiwan

Major hypermarket chains will be extending their service hours to 24 hours to meet consumer needs prior to the Lunar New Year.

Carrefour (家樂福), the nation's biggest hypermarket chain, will offer the longest extension at 12 days.

"The 24-hour service aims to provide more freedom to our customers, many of whom are dual-income families. The service will not only enable customers to shop at their own convenience, but will also help the stores to spread out weekend crowds," Dream Lin (林夢紹), Carrefour Taiwan's public relations manager, said yesterday.

Carrefour, which has 48 stores nationwide, is expecting a year-on-year 1 percent to 2 percent growth in sales for the Lunar New Year period, which runs from tomorrow until Feb. 5, Lin said.

RT-Mart International Ltd (大潤發) and Far Eastern Geant (愛買), the nation's second and third largest market players with 23 and 14 stores nationwide respectively, will provide their 24-hour services from Jan. 30 to Feb. 6.

"Customers shopping between 1am and 7am accounted for 15 percent to 20 percent of RT-Mart's sales during Lunar New Year last year. The 12am to 2am period saw the largest number of shoppers," Margaret Ho (何默真), assistant manager at RT-Mart's public relations department, said yesterday.

Far Eastern Geant said sales during the Lunar New Year period were significant, accounting for 20 percent of annual sales. The company said this year its focus would be on low-cost gift boxes, with prices ranging from NT$159 to NT$399.

"Medicinal herbs have become a less popular New Year gift option in the last two years, with sales dropping to only 8 percent of sales for the period. Low-cost gift boxes of candies and cookies are among customers's top choices, accounting for more that 50 percent of sales," Far Eastern Geant marketing director Fiona Wang (王彤芳) said.

As to the hypermarket's outlook for this year, Lillian Lee (李莉莉), public relations manager at Carrefour Taiwan, said the retailer's sales were expected to increase by about 20 percent, to more than NT$70 billion (US$2.16 billion) through the addition of six or seven stores.

Carrefour's market share will then account for half of the domestic retail industry.

RT-Mart and Far Eastern Geant, which both expect to see a 3 percent growth in sales this year, are to open one new store each this year.

Also See: New Year's Eve dinner: easy as pie
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