Sales at local department stores are expected to hit a new high of NT$330 billion (US$10.45 billion) this year, as many operators have intensified efforts to diversify their product portfolios to attract consumers, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
As an example, many department stores have introduced foreign restaurant chains in their food courts and shopping areas to help boost revenue, the ministry said.
Expanded dining services have become an effective way for department stores to take on rising competition from the e-commerce industry, the ministry said.
In addition, many department stores have been opening new branches to offset the impact from slower sales growth from their older outlets, the ministry added.
In the first half of this year, department stores generated NT$156 billion in revenue, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.
As department stores tend to hold massive promotional campaigns in the second half of the year to mark their anniversaries, the sector could see sales hit NT$330 billion for the full year, the ministry said.
Last year, total department store sales reached NT$318.9 billion, up 4.2 percent year-on-year and marking its seventh consecutive year of annual growth, the ministry said.
In related news, the nation’s two leading convenience store chain operators have launched promotion campaigns for the Chungyuan Festival (中元節, also known as the Ghost Festival), in a bid to boost sales this summer.
Most Taiwanese traditionally hold a pudu (普渡, “universal salvation”) ceremony on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, known as Ghost Month, to honor the dead.
President Chain Store Corp (統一超商) forecast sales would grow 10 to 20 percent from the previous month due to the festival.
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) said it has introduced a smartphone app that allows customers to order frozen meat and fish products for religious sacrifices.
Additional reporting by Kuo Chia-erh
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