TAIWANESE DEPARTMENT STORE INDUSTRY: AN OVERVIEW

Traces history of Taiwan′s department store industry back to 1958 when Da‐Hsin, Taiwan′s first contemporary department store, was established in Kao‐Hsiung. Most of Taiwan′s department stores were small with limited cash flow and have, therefore, widely adopted consignment sales. Illustrates how lack of merchandise differentation, stemming from consignment, resulted in a serious problem with vicious price competition. As a result, the Taipei Co‐ordinated Department Store Association (TCDSA) was formed in 1980 by volunteer department stores as a way to alleviate devastating price competition between them. Details how, recently, collaborative agreements have attracted the attention of Taiwan′s department stores; and how these strategic alliances have advanced Taiwan′s department store industry and have offered foreign retailers entry into the Taiwanese market.