President Chain Store Corp (超一統商), the nation’s largest convenience store chain, said yesterday its expansion in Shanghai is gaining steam.
“We are planning to open up to 15 7-Eleven stores in Shanghai by December, more than the 10 we originally planned,” chief operating officer James Hsieh (謝健南) said.
The company obtained a license to operate the stores in China from 7-Eleven’s parent company in May last year. It launched the first Shanghai store on April 30 and introduced 7-Eleven’s City Cafe coffee, as well as meal boxes consumers could fill with ingredients cooked-on-the-spot at counters.
“Our business model ‘surprised’ Shanghainese and quickly gained popularity among them,” Hsieh said.
Uni-President Group (統一集團) chief executive officer Jason Lin (林蒼生) said during the first store launch in Shanghai that the company planned to open a total of 165 stores in three years and up to 300 within five years.
While the revenue contribution from the stores in China is minimal to the group, the Shanghai operation is expected to be profitable in its fourth year, the company said. Daily revenues for an individual store in Shanghai are around 12,000 yuan (US$1,760), double that of competitors, it said.
President Chain is also exploring ways to increase revenues in Taiwan’s saturated chain-store market.
The company announced the launch of low-priced daily commodities across its 4,800 stores nationwide yesterday after it saw sales drop 1.1 percent from last year to NT$75.85 billion (US$2.3 billion) in the first nine months of the year.
The company said 34 “daily commodities” cost 15 percent less in its stores compared to competitors, while 37 items of its own “7-Select” brand are 10 percent to 30 percent cheaper, depending on the quantity purchased, the company said.
Daily commodities account for 5 percent of 7-Eleven’s total revenues, but are expected to contribute 10 percent in the near term, Hsieh said, without giving a timeframe.
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