Despite an increased number of shoppers, vendors at the new Kuanghua Digital Plaza (光華數位新天地) yesterday complained that a poor design of shopping routes inside and intense competition from peers resulted in low sales in the past month.
XPC (德總電腦) — which sells laptops, digital cameras and computer-related equipment on the building’s second and third floors — said that although the number of shoppers was nearly doubled the amount at the old site, poorly planned walkways discouraged consumers from visiting the third floor, as they either become tired or get lost while they are shopping on the second floor.
As a result, the company’s 30 percent increase in sales on the second floor was offset by a 30 percent decrease on the third floor.
“If you look at the number of shoppers who actually carry bags, you can tell that there are obviously more people browsing than buying,” store manager Kuo Chun-ting (郭俊廷), told the Taipei Times yesterday.
In addition, Kuo said there used to be only 100 computer vendors at the old site, but now there are nearly 200 vendors selling computers.
“We used to have profits between 10 percent and 15 percent back then, but now the stiff competition has squeezed our profits to between 3 percent and 5 percent,” Kuo said.
Kuo said vendors at the new location generally adopted the strategy of “small profits with quick turnover,” which means consumers will be able to find the same product 10 percent cheaper than the prices offered by vendors outside of the building. And even 30 percent cheaper compared with prices at large outlets for consumer electronics, such as Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co (燦坤實業).
Statistics provided by the Taipei City Market’s administration office yesterday showed that more than 600,000 people have visited in the month since it opened, with nearly NT$300 million in sales.
There are around 300 vendors located in the new building, which are mostly small and medium-sized enterprises, said Wang San-chung (王三中), deputy director at the Taipei City Market’s administration office.
The new building, located on Civic Boulevard and Xinsheng North Road, was opened on July 19 to replace the old Kuanghua Market (光華商場), which was torn down because of safety concerns.
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