Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s No. 2 convenience store chain, on Thursday said it aims to improve the efficiency of its in-store pickup service by launching a new processing line at a logistics center, as it eyes the growing e-commerce segment.
The new line at its Taoyuan warehouse is expected to reduce the logistics process from 180 minutes to 120 minutes, FamilyMart said in a statement.
That would enable the company to distribute 250,000 packages per day, almost double the 126,000 it currently delivers, the company said.
To cut delivery times, FamilyMart said it is to spend NT$600 million (US$19.8 million) this year on a new logistics warehouse in Kaohsiung, which is scheduled to start operations by the end of next year.
Many customers prefer in-store pickup when purchasing items online and the retailer’s nationwide network of physical outlets could serve as convenient spots for customers to receive packages.
There were 3,122 FamilyMart stores in Taiwan in the first half of this year, according to the firm’s Web site.
FamilyMart said the number of customers using its in-store pickup service is forecast to hit 80 million this year, up from 60 million last year, as major e-commerce operators have started offering free shipping to boost sales.
The retailer’s e-commerce business generated nearly NT$500 million in revenue last year, representing an increase of more than 10 percent from the previous year.
Meanwhile, FamilyMart has increased investments in its vehicle fleet and in-store freezers in light of increased demand for e-commerce deliveries of frozen products and items that need to be stored at 4°C, which tend to generate higher income than room-temperature deliveries.
The company reported NT$5.47 billion in revenue last month, a 8.73 percent increase from NT$5.03 billion a year earlier.
That brought cumulative revenue in the first nine months of this year to NT$48.22 billion, a 6.43 percent rise from NT$45.3 billion during the same period last year.
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