Top-2 Convenience Chains to Set Up More Larger Stores in Taiwan

Taipei, Dec. 6, 2011 (CENS)--To increase revenue, President Chain (7-Eleven) and Family Mart, Taiwan's two leading convenience chains, plan to set up more large stores or ones exceeding 97.2 sq.m.

President Chain has over 2,000 large 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan, about 40% of its total, and plans to raise such figure to 45% by the end of this year.

Family Mart has 600 large stores and plans to raise the number to about 1,000 the next year.

Insiders say electricity is a major cost of a convenience store. Family Mart's average per-store electricity consumption is 185,000 KWH a year, lower than the corresponding 265,000 KWH of all convenience stores in Taiwan, yet the company still pays about NT$1 billion (US$33.33 million) a year for power.

Family Mart has spent nearly one year and about NT$10 million (US$333,333) to establish Taiwan's first ‘green' convenience store in Chiayi, southern Taiwan, where LED lighting and solar panels help save about 84,000 KWH a year.

Thanks to increasing revenue from tea drinks, ice cream products and light meals, President Chain saw revenues grow 6.14% from a year earlier to NT$90.732 billion (US$3.024 billion) in the first nine months and profits jump by 10.76% to NT$5.456 billion (US$181.87 million), expecting revenues to exceed NT$120 billion (US$4 billion) for the full year, with projected profits exceeding NT$7 billion (US$233.33 million).

In the same period, Family Mart scored revenues of NT$34.763 billion (US$1.16 billion) for an annual rise of 8.4% and after-tax profits of NT$854 million (US$28.47 million), up 10.5%, and expects NT$50 billion (US$1.67 billion) in revenues and NT$1 billion (US$33.33 million) in profits this year.