Several department store operators recently spent tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars on refurbishing their major stores as competition becomes fiercer in the fast-changing market.
Earlier this month, Pacific Sogo Department Stores Co (太平洋崇光百貨), the nation’s second-largest department store operator, reopened two floors for jewelry, casual clothing and sportswear at its Zhongxiao branch in Taipei after a month-long refurbishment.
“The Zhongxiao branch has been open for 28 years,” Pacific Sogo vice president Cindy Wu (吳素吟) said on Tuesday last week.
“Facing stiffer competition in the department store industry lately, the company hopes to remain ahead of its competitors in terms of products and decor,” she added.
Pacific Sogo said the refurbishment was its biggest such project at the Zhongxiao branch in 10 years.
The company, which is under the control of Far Eastern Group (遠東集團), overhauled a floor for men’s clothing at the branch last year, boosting sales in the segment by more than 10 percent from a year earlier.
Pacific Sogo said that its recent refurbishment of two floors at the Zhongxiao branch cost more than NT$50 million (US$1.61 million), adding that sales of jewelry, casual clothing and sportswear are expected to rise by 10 to 20 percent from last year.
Work undertaken on the floor for casual wear and sportswear alone cost about NT$30 million, including redecoration and the introduction of 13 new brands, the company said.
Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活) on Friday announced the reopening of three floors at its flagship outlet in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), adding that sales are expected to increase by 10 percent on those floors.
It was the chain’s first large-scale refurbishment since it opened in 2006.
Eslite Spectrum senior assistant manager in store development Karen Hsieh (謝依忻) said that refurbishment is one way to attract a strong customer flow, which has reached 144 million people at the company’s outlets thus far.
In addition, renovation has helped raise the number of tenants at the store from 258 to 276, as it allows the company to make better use of space within the store, and introduce more brands by local designers.
Eslite Spectrum hopes its strategy can attract international customers, especially Chinese tourists, Hsieh said, adding that purchases made by tourists account for 10 percent of its total revenue, with tourists from China, Hong Kong and Macau accounting for 70 to 80 percent of such sales.
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