▲Gary Wang, chairman of ETMall said that ETMall will hit the EPS target of NT$8 per share this year. (Image／ By Reporter Wen-Bin Hsu)

Reporter Ling-Ju Hong／Taipei

Eastern (2614) reinvested in ETMall and reported a total revenue of NT$21.12 billion from ETMall and Strawberrynet combined in 2019, showing an annual increase of 22%, with the after-tax earnings per share (EPS) at NT$6. Out of which online shopping revenue grew at a remarkable rate, reaching NT$5.7 billion, a 55% annual growth rate. Gary Wang, chairman of ETMall, said due to the excellent performance of proprietary products and the online market, which drove the overall revenue growth, Eastern will adopt six major strategies to move forward in 2020. In January this year, despite the seven additional days of the Chinese New Year holiday period compared to last year, ETMall’s net profit after tax still managed to grow 22.7% in spite of unfavorable factors. Eastern earned NT$6 per share after taxes last year, and this year’s EPS is on pace to hit its NT$8 per share target.

ETMall has adopted multi-channel operations. Through the balanced development of the channels, including TV, MOD, e-commerce, APP, OTT, phone marketing to catalogs, ETMall’s revenue reached a NT$1.8 billion annual high in December last year, and it also set records for 13 consecutive years. In addition to the stable performance of all channels, and the significant growth in sales complemented by ET coin and proprietary products, ETMall has achieved substantial growth in membership numbers and performance.

Gary Wang pointed out that since the release of ET coin, the number of orders for ETMall has increased by 19%, the number of items has increased by 26%, and the turnover has increased by 33%. There were 419,000 VIP members in December 2019, up 19% compared to the same period in 2018, and they accounted for 73.9% of channel-wide revenue. Both the member numbers and revenue reached a five-year high, to which ET coin made a significant contribution.

In addition, after Eastern Group’s acquisition of Strawberrynet and Eastern Natural Beauty, the share of proprietary products accounted for 20% of total products. In total, proprietary products grew rapidly in 2019, with turnover reaching NT$1.66 billion, a huge increase of 92% compared to 2018. Among which, the three major categories of daily necessities, health foods and supplements, and skincare and beauty accessories made up the bulk of sales. Meal coupons, toilet paper, laundry detergent, shampoo, and vitamin and health food occupy the top-selling list of proprietary products. In 2020, Eastern will also focus on new retail development and expand self-owned brands, so that the most convenient and comfortable shopping experience can be brought to all members through the integration of Group resources.

▲Gary Wang proposed the 6 major strategies for 2020. (Image/Supplied by ETMall)

In the face of 2020, the development strategy of Eastern focuses on six major directions.

1. Rebranding and Revitalization: ETMall is the number one TV shopping brand in Taiwan, and in the future, developments will be in line with the new era’s digital social media development trends toward online customer attraction and offline customer guidance models.
2. Expansion into Overseas Markets: The 2018 acquisition of Strawberrynet helped ETmall obtain an international channel for the company and the acquisition of Natural Beauty established a proprietary beauty product brand and production base. In 2019, we successfully cultivated the social e-commerce business model, with products, channel, and business model all in place. In 2020, we will move forward into Southeast Asia, and continue to deepen market development in China.
3. Consumer-Driven: In the past 20 years, due to focusing the marketing on consumer demand, ETMall has won the Large-Scale Online Shopping Website category of “The Best Service in Taiwan” awards for three consecutive years, and won the 2019 “Top Service Awards” hosted by “Next Magazine”. In the future, we will continue to strive to “treat the customers as God” and bring members a better shopping experience and service content.
4. Enhancing Proprietary Product Development: We are committed to channel diversification, and through the integration of Group resources, ETMall will sell exclusive proprietary products through its various channels.
5. Using ET Coin to Create the Eastern Ecosystem: In 18 months, more than 5.9 billion ET coins have been issued and is currently the e-commerce currency with the highest circulation and exchange rate. In 2020, we will launch more ET coin promotions and marketing activities to create a comprehensive Eastern ecosystem, so that members can enjoy more exclusive offers and convenience with the ET coin.
6. Creating a New Retail Model: ETMall has maintained a high member satisfaction rate of more than 95% for 20 years. In 2020, we will expand our member experience model to reward more spending members. We are also planning to develop online to offline (O2O) lifestyle stores for affiliated companies, including “Eastern Natural Beauty, ETtoday Pets, and ETwarm” to increase member engagement.

Eastern has been in business for many years and we always pursued innovation and change. What remains unchanged is EHS Select’s commitment to products and service. High-quality service and products is the most valuable promise and protection we can offer our consumers. Every year, ETMall and our partner companies invest tens of millions of dollars in quality control and we inspect more than 270,000 products. Most of the online professional quality assurance technicians have more than 10 to 15 years of experience and hold quality technician certifications (CQT). We are dedicated to implementing the “EHS Select” spirit so that consumers can make purchases with peace-of-mind.

In recent years, Eastern Group has been actively developing diversified channels, including mergers and acquisitions of Natural Beauty, Strawberrynet, and ETtoday Pets. In addition to elevating Eastern’s reputation, the integration of resources between various channels also had a multiplier effect on the implementation of ET coin, and strengthened online to offline (O2O) marketing through the support of big data, customizing and enhancing communication with members. In the future, the focus of operations will be on offline. With the establishment of the Eastern ecosystem, ET coins will be promoted from online to physical stores, such as Eastern Natural Beauty and ETtoday Pets, under the mutual guidance of the members across the channels for successful O2O marketing to provide even more, as well as the best services to consumers.