TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Sales generated by hypermarket chains in Taiwan are expected to hit a new high of NT$200 billion (US$6.62 billion) in 2017 on the back of efforts to expand their distribution networks, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). The MOEA said that estimated sales for 2017 will represent a roughly 4.55 percent increase from 2016, when revenue totaled NT$191.3 billion, up 4.6 percent from a year earlier. In the past decade, sales in the hypermarket sector posted a compound annual growth rate of 3.7 percent as chain operators were gearing up to expand their sales networks and devote efforts to online sales, the MOEA added. In the first four months of this year, revenue of hypermarket chains grew 0.3 percent from a year earlier to NT$66.3 billion, the MOEA data shows. Despite the sales growth, the MOEA said, the local hypermarket chains face an escalating price war and rising competition from e-commerce operators.

Source: The China Post May 30, 2017 10:30 UTC