I was driving past the B&Q home improvement store this past weekend and I noticed that the sign no longer says B&Q and only has the Chinese 特力屋 (té lì wū). Also, the previous Internet address of bnq.com.tw now redirects to i-house.com.tw instead. I’ve read that Kingfisher Inc. sold their interest in the Taiwan B&Q stores back in 2007, but I’m just now noticing the new signage. Has anyone else noticed this? Has B&Q changed from having excellent western products to crappy Chinese products or is it still pretty much the same sans the name? Also, what do they use for the music jingle for advertising?
Old logo
New logo - seems a bit strange that they kept the same dimensions with a big orange empty space where the B&Q had been.
「特力屋」未來的發展願景，將會針對商品、陳列、服務、系統、流程等各方面進行整合，提升服務質感，希望每一位到「特力屋」消費的顧客，都能夠輕鬆的挑選或找到商品(Simple to choose)、在最短的時間內完成訂購或是結帳流程(Easy to buy)、並且每次到「特力屋」購物都能得到新的啟發與靈感(Exciting experience)，同時將持續提供消費者居家修繕最佳解決方案，以創造優質居家環境為首要目標，成為消費者心中的最佳選擇，幫助每一位來到「特力屋」的顧客創造家園、實現幸福。[/quote]
LOL this happens often in Taiwan it happened with FNAC and Geant, it is a way to not pay franchising fees. Then there was the dumbass that tried to change some subways into subber and got burned in court. Like so much here biz practices are less then honourable!!
Yeah, I was quite confused when I moved here (9 months ago) since there is one by my house. On the bus, the stop outside would say “B&Q” but nowhere on the building, anywhere did it say b & q…it says HOLA (和樂)
By the way, the locals often don’t know what I mean when I refer to the store above it, “Hola” (Spanish pronunciation, silent h). You have to pronounce an English h to get understood.
B&Q Taiwan was a joint venture between Kingfisher and Test Rite. Kingfisher sold out to Test Rite, and I would imagine that they had a licensing agreement.
What happened was that once Kingfisher was out, they rebranded, and stopped the licensing agreement.
I cannot see any immoral business practice in that, Test Rite owns the chain outright now.
It’s a fairly common occurrence. Taiwanese partner gets pissed off at sourcing things through international company head office, thinks they don’t understand local etc. Keeping the colours and the name Te Li Wu is pretty cheeky but I guess B&Q are not in this market anymore so don’t overly care about that.
By the way, the locals often don’t know what I mean when I refer to the store above it, “Hola” (Spanish pronunciation, silent h). You have to pronounce an English h to get understood.[/quote]
yah, I always have to call it he2le4…then they know what I mean
