International retail giant Costco is scheduled to open two outlets in Taiwan over the coming week, taking its total number of stores in the country to eight.
According to a report by Foucs Taiwan, the two new stores would be located in Tainan and Kaoshiung.
Quoting Costco’s country manager in Taiwan Richard Chang, the news source reported the company’s eight warehouses in the country would generate sales of around US1.38bn this year – an increase of more than 10 per cent on 2010 profits.
Mr Chang also said he believed revenues in 2012 would exceed those of this year and establish the wholesaler as the third largest hypermarket operator behind Carrefour and RT Mart.
Costco has been in Taiwan for 14 years and has built a membership base of over 1.5m people, with a membership retention rate of 90 per cent.
Mr Chang added that the Neihu store in Taipei recorded a profit of US$276m, making it the second most profitable Costco outlet of the 580 Costco warehouses worldwide.
