Carrefour Taiwan (家樂福) yesterday finalized the purchase of Wellcome Taiwan Co (惠康百貨), bringing all Wellcome supermarkets and Jasons Market Place stores nationwide under its brand, the hypermarket chain operator said as the first converted Wellcome store reopened as a Carrefour outlet in Taipei.
The company expects to convert Wellcome stores to Carrefour supermarkets at a rate of 36 to 40 a month and complete the conversions nationwide by August, Carrefour Taiwan president Wang Chun-chao (王俊超) said.
Wellcome Taiwan, which was launched in 1987 by Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm International Holdings (牛奶國際控股), was Taiwan’s largest supermarket chain, before French hypermarket chain Carrefour SA in June last year announced its acquisition.
Photo courtesy of Carrefour Taiwan
The deal includes 199 Wellcome supermarkets, 25 Jasons Market Place stores and a warehouse in Taoyuan, Carrefour Taiwan said.
Same-store sales for converted Wellcome stores are expected to grow 10 to 15 percent after coming under the Carrefour banner, Wang said.
The first converted store is on Taipei’s Dunhua N Road, covering 200 ping (661m2).
It is the first Carrefour supermarket in Taiwan that features a coffee shop, a dining area and kitchen facilities, the company said, adding that another Wellcome store is to reopen as a Carrefour supermarket today in Nangang District (南港).
However, the high-end Jasons Market Place stores would continue to operate under their own name for another two years, he said.
People with Wellcome loyalty cards can transfer their points to Carrefour’s loyalty card program, while former Wellcome employees would see their seniority and salary levels carry over, Wang said.
Carrefour currently operates 66 big-box hypermarkets and 66 supermarkets in Taiwan. With the acquisition of Wellcome, that number is to rise to 66 big-box hypermarkets, 262 supermarkets and 25 Jasons Market Place stores.
Carrefour Taiwan has set a revenue target of NT$90 billion (US$3.2 billion) for this year, NT$20 billion of which is expected to come from the former Wellcome stores, Wang said.
“The Wellcome group has cultivated the Taiwanese market for 34 years, and this deal is an alliance of two strong partners,” he said.
Carrefour Taiwan said once all the Wellcome supermarkets have been converted to its brand, it would work on e-commerce and store pickup services to better serve its customers.
Carrefour Taiwan’s headcount would increase from 14,000 to 17,000 employees, Wang said.
TECH TITAN: Pandemic-era demand for semiconductors turbocharged the nation’s GDP per capita to surpass South Korea’s, but it still remains half that of Singapore Taiwan is set to surpass South Korea this year in terms of wealth for the first time in more than two decades, marking a shift in Asia’s economic ranks made possible by the ascent of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). According to the latest forecasts released on Thursday by the central bank, Taiwan’s GDP is expected to expand 4.55 percent this year, a further upward revision from the 4.45 percent estimate made by the statistics bureau last month. The growth trajectory puts Taiwan on track to exceed South Korea’s GDP per capita — a key measure of living standards — a
Samsung Electronics Co shares jumped 4.47 percent yesterday after reports it has won approval from Nvidia Corp for the use of advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which marks a breakthrough for the South Korean technology leader. The stock closed at 83,500 won in Seoul, the highest since July 31 last year. Yesterday’s gain comes after local media, including the Korea Economic Daily, reported that Samsung’s 12-layer HBM3E product recently passed Nvidia’s qualification tests. That clears the components for use in the artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators essential to the training of AI models from ChatGPT to DeepSeek (深度求索), and finally allows Samsung
Taiwan has imposed restrictions on the export of chips to South Africa over national security concerns, taking the unusual step of using its dominance of chip markets to pressure a country that is closely allied with China. Taiwan requires preapproval for the bulk of chips sold to the African nation, the International Trade Administration said in a statement. The decision emerged after Pretoria tried to downgrade Taipei’s representative office and force its move to Johannesburg from Pretoria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said. The move reflects Taiwan’s economic clout and a growing frustration with getting sidelined by Beijing in the diplomatic community. Taiwan
READY TO HELP: Should TSMC require assistance, the government would fully cooperate in helping to speed up the establishment of the Chiayi plant, an official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its investment plans in Taiwan are “unchanged” amid speculation that the chipmaker might have suspended construction work on its second chip packaging plant in Chiayi County and plans to move equipment arranged for the plant to the US. The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported earlier yesterday that TSMC had halted the construction of the chip packaging plant, which was scheduled to be completed next year and begin mass production in 2028. TSMC did not directly address whether construction of the plant had halted, but said its investment plans in Taiwan remain “unchanged.” The chipmaker started
RSS