![]() In a competitive space dominated by two chains with a combined presence of more than 10,000 outlets, “large players have the strengths of being large, but small players have the agility of being small,” says France Kuo, Hi-Life’s chief integration officer. Meanwhile, FamilyMart opened their 4,000th location in New Taipei City’s Banqiao District, which is one of Taiwan’s top ten administrative districts in terms of concentration of convenience stores, and adopted the following key terms for their post-pandemic era goals: “fast action, the lazy economy, green lifestyles.” They have also introduced zero-contact services such as a novel app function for pre-ordering heated boxed meals and a smart-access cabinet for collecting them, as well as a coffee beaker rental and return station to promote environmental sustainability. The “contextual economy” created by themed outlets can boost store footfalls by 20–30%. On average these have driven growth of more than 10% in customer footfall per store.ħ-Eleven has also embraced the concept of “spokes-characters.” Since 2019 they have opened more than 90 cobranded locations themed around their own mascot “Open-chan” and well-known “intellectual property stars” like Demon Slayer, Detective Conan, and Pokémon. It now has more than 1,000 collaborative stores, including convenience stores that have bookstores, barbecued food counters, confectionery counters, and cosmetics counters inside them. ![]() Amidst this competition, they have continually broken the iron rule of market saturation, and even under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic their revenues and number of locations have continued to expand, bucking the general trend.ħ-Eleven works with other firms in the Uni-President stable, and based on the characteristics of each business district has set up collaborative “shop-in-shop” stores in diverse formats. With such a high concentration of convenience stores, in order to compete for customer loyalty these chains have rushed to adopt collaborative and cobranding strategies so as to offer differentiated services and continually innovate new business models. The service is congenial, they are open 24 hours, and you can even win money from the sales receipt lottery….” Simply put, convenience stores are all-inclusive. Many foreigners have made videos sharing their experiences of Taiwan’s convenience stores: “Post office, restaurant, and attraction all in one. Moli, author of the comic book Hello! Welcome to Other Store, describes convenience-store workers as “the most capable jacks-of-all-trades on the planet.” Their service is attentive and meticulous, and many employees don’t need to wait for regular customers to open their mouths to know what kind of coffee to make them. These many services have given shape to a “Taiwan model” that is unique in the world.Įmployees at convenience stores must handle a wide variety of tasks, from greeting customers with a smile and a verbal welcome as they enter to making personalized premium coffee, from storing and handing over online purchases to helping elderly people use smartphone apps, and even giving people directions and chatting with customers about whatever is on their minds. These chains have also installed photocopier/printers and ATMs so that even consumers who don’t need to buy anything still find it useful to go to a convenience store. And new services are always being added to keep in step with the times. ![]() Hi-Life, and OK mart-offer multimedia service machines and train their personnel to handle at least 2,000 types of payment acceptance and consignment services, covering everything imaginable from paying parking fees, utility bills, credit-card bills, and school tuition, to sending and picking up packages. To meet consumers’ needs, Taiwan’s big four convenience store chains-7-Eleven, FamilyMart. Convenience stores in Taiwan fulfill this definition to the max. Toshinori Honda, who was a board member at 7-Eleven Japan and chief operating officer at 7-Eleven Korea, has defined convenience stores as shops which sell products and offer services that meet customers’ needs in daily life-they are solutions providers.
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