Home appliance and consumer electronics retail chain E-Life Mall Corp (全國電子) plans to launch an online shopping platform ahead of Singles’ Day on Nov. 11 to boost its sales channels and brand loyalty.
“Many customers have switched to online shopping, so we have decided to provide an online service to make sure clients are served around the clock,” company president Jeffrey Lin (林政勳) told an investors’ meeting on Thursday.
Trial operations of the online services have been going on for a month, Lin said, adding that the focus is on customer satisfaction rather than sales volume.
As for expansion plans, the company said it would open 20 to 30 Digital City stores in the next three years to grab market share in consumer electronics.
The company currently operates 10 Digital City stores, which contributed 10 percent of sales in the first half of the year, Lin said, adding that a new store is opening in Chiayi City today.
Revenue from Digital City so far this year has been flat compared with a year earlier, he added.
As consumer electronics products have shorter life cycles, Digital City stores’ gross margins are lower than those of E-life stores, which mainly sell home appliances, Lin said.
As of July, the company had 323 E-life stores, according to its Web site.
Second-quarter net income climbed 15.77 percent annually and 46.6 percent quarterly to NT$157.62 million (US$5.04 million).
Earnings per share rose to NT$1.59 from NT$1.37 a year earlier and NT$1.08 in the first quarter, thanks to better demand for air-conditioners and refrigerators in July and last month, chief financial offer Jill Chen (陳碧滋) said.
First-half net income dipped 12.32 percent year-on-year to NT$265.14 million, while earnings per share declined to NT$2.67 from NT$3.05 a year earlier, company data showed.
Gross margin edged down 0.3 percentage points to 18.85 percent.
Robust sales of air-conditioners and refrigerators offset soft sales of heaters and accounted for a 4.79 percent increase in cumulative sales of NT$12.46 billion in the first eight months, Chen said.
Home appliances drove 85.5 percent of sales last year, while computer and mobile devices contributed 13.9 percent, data showed.
E-Life Mall shares were flat in Taipei trading yesterday at NT$65.80.
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