National Electronics Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Launch of “Metaverse Virtual Store”
It has been half a century since Lin Chi-Min, the founder of National Electronics, sold electronic calculators on his motorcycle at the Taipei Roundabout. This also marks the company’s 50th year in business as a chain electronics retailer.
On May 9th, National Electronics held a grand press conference at the 101 Shopping Center to celebrate its 50th anniversary. From its humble beginnings as a 6-square-meter calculator specialty store, National Electronics now has 335 stores across Taiwan and, last year, surpassed Tsann Kuen to become the leading player in the electronics retail industry.
Since Lin Chi-Min handed over the reins to his son, Lin Cheng-Hsun, two years ago, National Electronics has been growing younger and more vibrant. In recent years, the company has actively entered department stores and also launched trendy new store formats called Digital City. Currently, there are over 60 Digital City stores, accounting for one-fifth of all National Electronics stores. During the press conference, Chairman Lin Cheng-Hsun made two major announcements: the official launch of the company’s exclusive app in April and the introduction of the “Metaverse Virtual Store” starting from that day.
The Metaverse Virtual Store, created in collaboration with Google Cloud and 3D animation company IN3D, is the first of its kind in Taiwan and even in all of Asia, as proudly stated by Chairman Lin Cheng-Hsun. This immersive virtual 3C electronics store allows consumers to browse and purchase products directly through their smartphones or computers by accessing the official website or the app.
CEO of IN3D, Jia Bo-Zhou, emphasized that this virtual store is different from other 3D browsing platforms. The products showcased in the Metaverse Virtual Store are not simply converted from static 2D images, but are fully rendered in 3D. The virtual store’s generated animations utilize techniques like ray tracing and 3D rendering, allowing consumers to have real interactions with the products as they explore the virtual store. They can open refrigerator doors, operate coffee machines, and even start robotic vacuum cleaners, providing an online experience that mimics operating home appliances in a physical store.
For those interested in learning more about a particular product, consumers can rotate its appearance 360 degrees and examine its specifications and component sizes in detail. Ultimately, the virtual store will guide consumers to National Electronics’ own online store.
As the home appliance retail industry faces a winter chill, National Electronics aims to defend its position as the leading player in the retail channel.
By launching the virtual store at this time, National Electronics not only aims to expand its customer base among the younger generation but also intends to defend its position as the leader in the home appliance retail industry against the encroachment of e-commerce.
While all physical retail sectors experienced significant growth last year due to post-pandemic consumer spending, the 3C and home appliance specialty stores were the only channels that did not benefit from this trend. According to the 2024 Taiwan Retail Distribution Industry Insight report by the Future Commerce Research Institute, 3C and home appliance specialty stores were the only channels in the physical retail industry that experienced a decline, with a 4.9% decrease in sales.
Facing this winter season for home appliance specialty stores, National Electronics suffered a decline in revenue last year, although not as much as the second-ranked Tsann Kuen. According to financial reports, National Electronics achieved a revenue of NT$20.4 billion in 2023, a 4.5% decrease compared to the previous year, while Tsann Kuen’s revenue was NT$19.9 billion, representing a decrease of over 10%.
The introduction of the Metaverse Virtual Store by National Electronics is likely an attempt to address the major challenge faced by home appliance specialty stores: product display limitations. According to Fan-Chen Tai, Director of the Institute for Retail Research, in recent years, e-commerce channels have been able to outperform home appliance specialty stores in terms of growth rate and have successfully eroded their market share. The key lies in the fact that online platforms can showcase all product models at once and have the advantage of using videos and unboxing articles to entice consumers. These are advantages that traditional specialty stores have been unable to achieve.
With the virtual store, National Electronics not only hopes to regain online sales but also aims to build a formidable barrier that is difficult for competitors to breach. Tai points out that for vertical retailers like National Electronics, focusing on a single product category, the key to success in developing an online retail presence lies in leveraging the unique characteristics of that category to create advantages that e-commerce channels find difficult to replicate.
Regarding home appliances, the desired service expertise is the key product characteristic. Since home appliances require delivery, installation, long-term after-sales service, maintenance, testing, and even cleaning, these are areas where specialty stores outperform other retail channels. Therefore, if vertical retailers can enhance the online consumer experience through digital tools, they have the potential to retain more customers.
“Bringing physical retail to e-commerce is not about engaging in an online battle with e-commerce companies but about considering how to bring consumers back to physical stores, creating more sales opportunities,” emphasizes Fan-Chen Tai. Currently, the Metaverse Virtual Store mainly focuses on guiding consumers to National Electronics’ physical stores, but the effectiveness of this approach is still relatively weak. Additionally, the virtual store currently showcases only about 40 products, so the selection is limited.
Chairman Lin Cheng-Hsun emphasized that in the future, they will continue to enhance interaction with consumers in the Metaverse Virtual Store. Currently, consumers can earn online and offline discount vouchers by completing game missions in the virtual store. Furthermore, the newly launched app will continue to integrate with more services offered by physical stores, such as scheduling home appliance cleaning services, appliance repairs, applying for manufacturer warranties, and applying for government subsidies for energy-efficient appliances. These initiatives aim to guide consumers to visit National Electronics’ nearby stores more frequently and enhance customer loyalty.
Editor: Lin Mei-Xin
