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.
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