E-commerce operator Shopee has opened brick-and-mortar stores in Taiwan in an attempt to increase business and add customers unfazed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dampened business at physical retailers for the past two years, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said yesterday.
The number of Shopee stores has spiked from 20 in August to 150 this month as the firm seeks to cut dependence on convenience stores for pickup services and boost its own sales as people pick up packages.
The tally suggests that Shopee has opened a new store each day in the past three months, Sinyi head researcher Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
Photo courtesy of Sinyi Realty Inc
The company on its Web site indicated that it would add more outlets to improve its services across Taiwan, Tseng said.
More than 85 percent of online shoppers in Taiwan pick up the goods at convenience stores, with more than 300 million items delivered to 7-Eleven and FamilyMart stores alone, Tseng said, citing Institute of Information Industry data.
The volume suggests huge business potential for Shopee and merits the establishment of its own retail outlets, he said.
Photo: CNA
Shopee’s stores are all in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan and have floor space of 10 to 50 ping (33.1m2 to 165.3m2), he said.
It is seeking deals with landlords in Keelung, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taichung and Changhua and would soon establish locations across Taiwan, Tseng said.
Shopee is interested in relatively affordable locations that do not have to be on main streets with heavy flows of people, as people will choose locations that are convenient for them, he said.
Shopee is collaborating with supermarket chain Simple Mart (美廉社) in some locations.
Simple Mart, operated by Simple Mart Retail Co (三商家購), said it is to set aside 2 to 3 ping at its supermarkets for Shopee’s goods.
The partnership is expected to increase customers by 20 percent and boost revenue, Simple Mart general manager Chiu Kuang-lung (邱光隆) said.
Shopee proposed the cooperation in the first half of this year and Simple Mart agreed in September, prompted by a surge in online shopping amid a COVID-19 alert, Chiu said.
Simple Mart shared a desire to tap into the digital economy and the collaboration would help it advance the shift in business strategy, he said, adding that the firms would deepen the collaboration if necessary.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS