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百貨量販及便利商店如何建立欣欣向榮的消費版圖

邱剛彥　陳衛民

Creating Shopping Fever—Department Stores, Discount Warehouses, and Convenience Stores in Taiwan

In Taiwan, the widespread economic recession has affected all lines of business; the only exceptions are the department stores, the convenient stores, and the discount warehouses. These business institutions have not only increased in great number in recent years, but also enjoyed great profits in attracting an overwhelming amount of customers through special promotions, such as the grand opening, the annual sale, the celebrations of New Year, Christmas, and the Chinese New Year, and even renovation sales. All kinds of sales fill the calendar and constantly allure consumers to seek bargains. The present paper will examine the various strategies adopted by these retail businesses to create the recent shopping fever.

Department Stores
The emergence of Living Mall and Breeze Plaza in Taipei has brought about a new revolution in shopping. The grander buildings house greater varieties of merchandise, which means a greater concentration of capital. Many corporations (mostly different kinds) have combined their forces to lower the risk. Second, the grander shopping centers provide a wide variety of shops and services, including film cinemas with VIP seats, fast food chains with traditional foods, gyms, executive spas, disco pubs, performance areas, and even education institutions, encompassing all types of possible consumption. The huge sum of investment brought back huge returns and broke the spell of the hard times. Third, to compete against similar department stores with similar merchandises, retail businesses have to develop their individualities. Many stores in the shopping centers focus on a few specific kinds of merchandise but with a lot of selections to choose from. However, the new trend of shopping centers has affected traditional department stores. Those that stick to the old way of doing business are dying while others scramble to adjust their goods and develop their individualities. Some department stores are combining forces to compete with the mega shopping centers.

Discount Warehouses
The discount warehouses have begun to develop their own lines of merchandise to increase their individuality. They have also developed special merchandises, free delivery services, and even established post offices, hospitals, and banks on their own premises. Their functions continue to increase.

Convenience Stores
In Taiwan, you can see convenient stores everywhere so their biggest advantage is convenience. Some convenience stores start to provide more services where you can pay all kinds of fees and fines. Since these services save our time, more and more people go to the convenient stores to get their businesses done, thus bringing more and more profits for the convenience stores. They are now developing Internet shopping to further boost their business.

Marketing Strategies
In these days, sales have become such a popular strategy for the retail businesses that it is no longer news. So department stores and discount warehouses have not resorted to providing not only sales but lotteries with big prizes such as RVs, houses, and unbelievable sums of money. Convenience stores are also launching wars on meals and sandwiches, thus threatening traditional food stores. To sum up, they are all increasing their functions to fulfill different needs in such a society where individualism is constantly emphasized.