Taiwan: FamilyMart, 7-11 to expand fresh food
Taiwan FamilyMart Co, the nation’s second-largest convenience store operator, said yesterday it would launch a new fresh-food brand tomorrow, offering a range of 15 healthy food items.
The convenience store operator expects revenue from its fresh-food sector to account for 17 percent of its overall sales this year, compared with about 14 percent to 15 percent last year, because of strong sales momentum that it predicts will be driven by the new brand, a FamilyMart official said.
“The new product range will help maintain the growing momentum of our fresh-food sector at 20 percent this year, keeping in line with the rising pace of growth seen over the past two years,” FamilyMart public relations director Lin Tsui-chuan told a media briefing.
FamilyMart aims to raise its number of large stores to 1,500 by the end of this year from the 1,000 it had established at the end of last year, Lin said.
The company has spent between NT$4 billion (US$135.11 million) and NT$5 billion upgrading its outlets over the past three years, with the expenditure for this year set to total between NT$1.5 billion and NT$1.6 billion, she said.
The firm said it plans to increase the total number of FamilyMart stores in Taiwan from 2,850 to 2,900 by the end of this year, with the refurbished stores accounting for half of all outlets.
In the first three months, FamilyMart saw its consolidated sales reach NT$12.43 billion, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier.
President Chain Store Corp, the nation’s largest convenience store chain operator, is also aiming to increase sales of its fresh-food products this year with a similar strategy of establishing more large stores with increased capacity of in-store seating.
The company is also planning to expand its product ranges, with a special focus on promoting its salads during the summer.
It has set a growth target of 10 percent for the sector, which currently accounts for about 18 percent of the company’s overall sales.
President Chain, which operates 4,850 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan, posted NT$48.37 billion in consolidated revenue in the first quarter, up 3.79 percent from a year earlier, its financial data showed.
President Chain saw its shares fall 0.55 percent to close at NT$182 yesterday, while FamilyMart stock rose 0.36 percent to NT$138.5.
Source: taipeitimes.com
