 | |
| Industry | Grocery |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1 September 1998 |
| Headquarters | Zhongshan,Taipei,Taiwan |
Key people | Lin Ming-Hsiung (林敏雄) |
| Website | http://www.pxmart.com.tw/ |
| PX Mart | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 全聯福利中心 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
PX Mart is asupermarket chain inTaiwan. As of October 2021, PX Mart operates 1,056 stores across the island, making it the largest supermarket chain in Taiwan and the second largest retailer by revenue behind7-Eleven.[1][2] Thecorporate headquarters is located inZhongshan District,Taipei.[3]
In 1974, theMinistry of the Interior founded theJūngōngjiào Fúlì Zhōngxīn (軍公教福利中心), a supermarket with cheaper prices and nosales tax whose access is restricted to military, civil servants, and educators.[4][5] In 1989, the supermarket was reorganized to createQuánliánshè (全聯社)[a] that catered to civil servants and educators;[6] the military maintained its own supermarket, which still exists to this day.[7] In 1998, several executives were found to haveembezzled money. Nine people were charged, but were all eventually found not guilty.[8][9] During the controversy, the company wasprivatized and headed by Lin Ming-Hsiung, founder of Yuanlih Construction (元利建設); its 66 stores were rebranded as PX Mart and were opened to the public.[10][11]
Under new leadership, Lin aggressively increased their market share throughmergers with other chains, acquiring Yanglianshe (楊聯社) in 2004, the stores in Taiwan owned by the Japanese chainSummit (supermarket) [ja] in 2006, and the stores operated byTaipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation [zh] in 2007.[12] The supermarket operated as adiscount store and kept consumer prices down through unconventional strategies, such as opening smaller stores in discreet locations or outside urban areas, and not accepting card payments to avoid processing fees.[5][10][13] In 2006, PX Mart launched its long-running advertising campaign known as "Mister PX Mart" (全聯先生), which features a man in a deadpan voice describing the chain's lack of extra services to achieve low prices.[14][15]
In 2012, PX Mart surpassedCarrefour as the largest supermarket chain in Taiwan.[16] The same year, PX Mart opened twowarehouses inGuanyin, Taoyuan andGangshan, Kaohsiung,[17] and became the first overseas member of theAll Japan Supermarket Association [ja].[18][19] In 2013, PX Mart reversed its cash-only policy by allowing card payments fromCTBC Bank.[20] PX Mart then acquired two more supermarket chains:Obuying [zh] in 2014,[21] andMatsusei in 2015.[22] In 2021, PX Mart announced its acquisition of thehypermarket chainRT-Mart; the deal is awaiting regulatory approval.[1]
PX Mart operates threewarehouses, located inGuanyin, Taoyuan;Wuqi, Taichung; andGangshan, Kaohsiung.[23]
Media related toPX Mart at Wikimedia Commons
