Hello Kitty's gig at 7-Eleven shows she still has Taiwan under her spell

July 14, 2005

While Mister Donut is demonstrating that he has the potential to become a permanent fixture of Taiwan's expanding consumer market, perhaps the most adored Japanese icon, the precious Hello Kitty, has returned to exercise her mind control powers to thoroughly enchant Taiwanese consumers.

Hello Kitty's current host in Taiwan, the charismatic Uni-President subsidiary President Chain Store Corp., is giving away one of a series of coin-sized commemorative Hello Kitty 3-D magnets for each NTD 77 a shopper spends at 7-Eleven. In addition to proving once again Ms. Kitty's status in Taiwan, this campaign has boosted the convenient store's revenues 20% on the year in its first month, forcing its rivals to implement emergency response measures.

This promotion has been especially hard on 7-Eleven's competitors because the convenience store market as a whole endured a rough month in June due to flooding in the south and heavy rains in the north.

Hoping to defend itself from the kitten that will never be a cat, Family Mart presented its "Family Mart Treasure Hunt Lottery" in mid June. Customers that spend at last NTD 66 earn the chance to win daily cash prizes of NTD 66,000 and discount certificates for products on sale at Family Mart.

While Family Mart wants to play games, Hi-Life's response has been to declare a "Never-ending Price War." Started in late June, this campaign will offer discounts averaging 20-40% on a selection of seventy items every Thursday until the end of the year.

For the third and final wave of its Kitty campaign, 7-Eleven is presenting seven specially-designed magnets featuring Hello Kitty visiting scenic spots around Taiwan while decked out in various ethnic wardrobes of Taiwan. These localized magnets were jointly designed by Hello Kitty's parent company Sanrio and President Chain Store and are only available in Taiwan. They are sure to be snapped up due to their value as collectables.

7-Eleven kicked off its Hello Kitty promotion in early May and, presumably wary of overexposure, plans to call a temporarily halt to this event on July 19.

(United Daily News, Taipei Times)

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