Bueno Lights Up Buyers' Faces With Full Range of Decorative Lights

Decorative-light supplier Bueno Corp. is gearing up for a bumper year in 2004 after a hefty 40% increase last year and projected growth of 30% this year. The company plans to roll out several new products to drive up sales in the coming year.

Christmas lights, party lights, Thanksgiving lights, Easter lights, and Halloween lights are among the more than 1,000 product items sold by Bueno, making it Taiwan's largest supplier of decorative lights with irregular cases.

The company has recently made some changes to its products in order to make them more attractive. First, it now uses plastic instead of glass for its bulb cases, which come in a variety of shapes, such as animals, fairies, fruits, plants, and aquatic creatures. The plastic cases are processed in a way to give them a glass-like feel.

By using plastic, Bueno has been able to make its products safer and cheaper. To date, the company has received orders for one million sets of lights equipped with the plastic bulb cases.

Bueno also sells a line of miniature Christmas lights. Its mini Santa Claus light, for example, is only about three centimeters high. Each mini light is powered by a battery so they can be placed anywhere. Bigger Santa Clauses can be strung together along electrical wire to serve as attractive garden lights.

Bueno's main export market is the United States--the world's biggest buyer of decorative lights. All of its lights are UL, CE and GS approved. The company says it can make delivery within 30 to 45 days of receiving orders.

Orders from major retailer Wal-Mart and others pushed up the company's revenue to NT$1 billion (US$29 million at US$1:NT$34) last year from the NT$700 million (US$20.5 million) quoted for the previous year.

Each month, the company puts out one million sets of lights, with each featuring an average of 10 lamps. They are made at a six-story, 60,000 square-meter factory in Guangdong province, mainland China. The facility is equipped with 100 plastic-injection machines. The firm spends NT$10 million (US$300,000) on product R&D each year, producing 50 to 100 new light models.

Expecting strong sales growth next year, the company tripled its workforce to 3,000 people in October.

For more information, please contact the company at: 5F., No. 3, Lane 151, Sec. 2, Fu-Hsing S. Rd., Taipei, Taiwan; tel: 886-2-2701-3559; fax: 886-2-2325-7274 and E-Mail: joyce@bueno.com.tw