Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) on Tuesday last week unveiled a new logistics warehouse in Kaohsiung, which is to increase its in-store pickup service capacity to 330,000 packages per day, a 30 percent increase.
The NT$1 billion (US$32.42 million) multitemperature logistics facility in the city’s Gangshan District (岡山) is also to help the chain expand its presence in the frozen foods market, company president Hsueh Dong-du (薛東都) said.
In addition to normal package deliveries for shopping Web sites, the new facility also offers low-temperature and frozen food warehousing, which would help differentiate the firm from its competitors in e-commerce services, Hsueh said.
With customers increasingly opting for in-store pickups when purchasing items online, the retailer said the number of packages handled by its nationwide network has increased by 20 to 30 percent annually over the past five years.
The retailer processed 80 million packages last year and the number is forecast to reach 100 million this year, it said.
Taiwan FamilyMart operates the nation’s second-largest convenience store chain, with 3,311 stores as of Friday last week, its Web site said.
The company has said it aims to expand to 4,000 stores in 2020.
The company reported net income of NT$541.4 million in the third quarter of the year, up from NT$500.6 million in the same period last year, with earnings per share of NT$2.43.
Consolidated revenue grew 10.51 percent annually from NT$17.03 billion to NT$18.82 billion, thanks to a better product portfolio and contributions from e-commerce services, the company said.
Gross margin in the third quarter fell by 1.28 percentage points to 37.07 percent, while operating margin rose 0.27 percent from last year to 3.16 percent.
Cumulative net income in the first three quarters totaled NT$1.26 billion, up 19.8 percent from NT$1.05 billion in the same period last year, with earnings per share of NT$5.64, the company said.
Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said it remains bullish on Taiwan FamilyMart’s business outlook, given the retailer’s robust sales growth on the back of fresh food upgrades, preorders via mobile application and e-commerce commissions.
This quarter, Yuanta forecasts the company’s revenue will increase 12.1 percent year-on-year on rising fresh food and coffee sales, as well as contributions from its online shopping services, the securities firm said in a client note on Wednesday.
“Resumption of in-store pick-up growth for e-commerce should enhance sales, as 20 percent of customers also make other purchases in the store, which should support same-store sales growth during the fourth-quarter low season,” Yuanta analyst Juliette Liu (劉珮昀) said.
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