President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), the operator of Taiwan’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, yesterday said it would collaborate with a second technology company to sell LED light bulbs to cater to rising demand for energy-efficient lighting products.
Unlike its previous collaboration with LED chip packager Everlight Electronics Co (億光) to sell 8-watt LED bulbs under the Everlight brand, President Chain said this time it would market co-branded 8-watt LED bulbs with Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), the world’s largest switching power supplier.
President Chain public relations official Irene Chuang (莊靜如) said by telephone yesterday that the new LED light bulbs would hit the store shelf soon.
But she declined to say how many of the co-branded light bulbs the company expects to sell, at NT$399 each, by the end of the year. The retailer sold out of 100,000 Everlight LED bulbs at NT$299 each within a month between May and last month, she said.
Delta Electronics first launched its own-branded LED light bulbs on the Internet in 2010, before expanding its distribution channels to retail outlets such as Costco and B&Q.
Delta hopes teaming up with President Chain will further popularize LED light bulbs, boosting the company’s market share, Delta Electronics solid-state lighting division director Roland Chiang (江文興) said in a statement.
Like Everlight, Delta uses a pricing strategy to woo customers, as every purchase of two bulbs would cost NT$599 rather than NT$798. In May, Everlight cut its 8-watt bulb to NT$299 each from its previous price of NT$799.
In related news, the Bureau of Energy yesterday said it would extend to Sept. 16 an incentive program to encourage consumers to purchase energy-efficient home appliances.
The initiative provides consumers with a NT$2,000 subsidy for every purchase of energy-efficient home appliances, including air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions and computer monitors.
In May, the bureau said the government allocated a budget of NT$700 million (US$23.24 million) to help consumers purchase up to 350,000 energy-efficient appliances which, it estimated, would boost domestic consumption by about NT$12.1 billion.
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