GTrusted

A Look at What Taiwan Electronics Brands Are Sold in Costco Taipei

Unlike a lot of other large US retailers that have very much localized the look and feel of their stores in Asia, Costco has managed to keep their big box format even though the size of urban Taipei homes and cars are typically a lot smaller than the average US variety. Here we take a look at Costco in the Neihu District of Taipei, Taiwan which conveniently sells a lot of the same products you find in the US. One thing though that is different are the brands and types of electronics sold in the store.

The outside of the Taipei Costco is similar to that of US based Costco stores complete with more than adequate parking.

Costco Taipei has the same entrance/exit format but holds much later opening hours to accommodate the long work hours and commutes.

Many parts of the store look almost identical as in the US version including the smells of the bakery section. There are two floors in this Costco so the first thing you do when you enter is go up an escalator.

Like Costco in the US, the first thing you get hit by during the Costco Taipei shopping journey is the large flat screen TV's. However, the brands are quite different. While Costco US is dominated by brands like Samsung, LG, and Vizio, the Korean brands appear to be in hiding at Costco Taiwan.

And instead of Vizio which has brand name recognition in the US, Taiwan based AmTran and Foxconn who are both suppliers and investors of Vizio use other brands to sell in Taiwan. AmTran also licenses the JVC brand from JVC Kenwood to sell JVC TV's in Taiwan and the US- these JVC TV's are quite heavily promoted at Costco Taiwan.

Other Japanese companies like Sharp are now wholly owned by Foxconn who also makes the TV. In fact Foxconn also owns the InFocus brand so it's not surprising that both InFocus and Sharp TV's are well promoted at Costco Taiwan. Foxconn is also manufacturer for Sony Bravia TV's which are also represented at Costco.

TPV is also a major supplier of TV's to Vizio, but their Philips brand of TV's are not seen much in Taiwan. However, it's clear that their other major suppliers Foxconn and AmTran are well represented at Costco Taiwan through their various brands.

You can see other Taiwan brands well represented like Asus and MSI. Asus showcased its VivoStick mini PC and monitors, ZenPad C 7.0, and ZenFone 3 Laser.

MSI had their All-in-One PC's, while BenQ also showcased its PC monitors. 

On the portable entertainment side, Singapore based X-mini also had its small Bluetooth speaker at Costco Taiwan while Wonder showed off the latest fad in using portable Bluetooth microphones/speakers to use singing KTV through Apps on your phone.

One product that is also quite popular in Taiwan are video camera based drive recorders from companies like Mio (a subsidiary of Taiwan based Mitac) that most people put in their cars to record footage in case there are accidents.

Of course, Apple products were also displayed in Costco Taiwan, but it was great to see brands owned by Taiwan companies much better represented overall.