Eastern Home Shopping Network (東森得易購), the nation's sole provider of television shopping services, reported record monthly sales last month and is sharpening its knives to take on two major competitors later this year.
The network's initial performance after its inception at the end of 1999 was bleak. But it has now expanded into three TV channels, broadcasting, catalogue sales and the Internet.
Fubon Financial Holding Co (
"This finally proves that we're not idiots," Gary Wang (王令麟), chairman and founder of the shopping network, told a press conference yesterday.
In contrast to the TV shopping market in South Korea, Wang said Taiwan's market scope for virtual retailing should be worth NT$100 billion (US$2.97 billion), or 10 percent of the overall retail sector.
Compared with Eastern's revenue target for this year of NT$38 billion -- more than double last year's NT$15 billion -- Wang said, "there is huge potential for growth."
Faced with prospective competition, Eastern plans to expand its customer base by diversifying its merchandise and educating its suppliers to maintain service quality.
Eastern president Jennifer Sung (宋湘嵐) said although customers aged between 25 and 50 account for the bulk of their 1.7 million members, the company has its eyes on a younger demographic -- consumers aged 15 and older -- whose purchasing power in the coming years should not be ignored.
Eastern is continuing to explore new offerings, including wedding photos, travel packages and cars.
It also expects to start selling "pre-paid funeral contracts" next month, and houses in the near future, according to public relations officer Chen Yu-shuan (
The company aims to attract consumers from all walks of life with a wide array of products in order to maintain its edge.
Chen said Eastern is putting more effort into interacting with and educating its suppliers -- who number more than 3,000 -- and who might be hoping to gain new bargaining power when Fubon Financial and Uni-President enter the market.
Since Eastern provides 10-day free trial, free delivery and free return on all products, Chen said the company has to make sure that all its links are flawless.
For example, suppliers of large furniture and jewelry must deliver their own products but customers would blame Eastern for poor services if the suppliers fail to meet the company's service standards, Chen said.
An analyst said Fubon Financial and Uni-President might find the going tough for the first two years as the TV shopping sector requires coordination between several channels.
"Eastern has been standing firm," said Jeff Lai (
He said customer relations are a critical element and Eastern has invested heavily in this area over the past two years. Newcomers will have to present unique merchandise if they want to win a share of the market, he said.
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