Splash to expand in key cities

MANILA, Philippines - Splash Corp., the country’s largest wholly-owned Filipino beauty and personal care company, is aggressively beefing up its presence nationwide to further solidify its leadership position in the multi-billion peso industry.

Gary Morales, Splash head for Direct Selling Division, said the company is expanding in key cities throughout the country such as Cebu, Davao, Cagayan De Oro, Dagupan, Batangas and Pampanga.

Splash is a new entrant in the fast-growing P18 billion direct selling industry, having launched its first business center located at the Starmall in Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong only in November last year. 

“We’re very encouraged with the first few months of our operations. We plan to open a lot more distribution centers this year, so that by the end of the year, we will be in the double digits. Direct selling will be our third growth engine, the other two being our domestic retail sales, and our international operations,” Morales said.

Morales said the division showed strong potential for additional revenue growth for Splash and its shareholders as reflected by the 100 percent increase in sales revenues every month since the first business center opened last year. A second outlet was put up at the Araneta Center in Quezon City last month.

“We decided to expand to this new distribution channel because in a way, we wanted to be more up close and personal with our target market. Direct selling is a very personal and intimate way of selling. A lot of trust is involved. And we believe we have brands that people can trust. The results have certainly proved it. We expected the response to be positive - but we didn’t expect it to grow this fast. It’s a very pleasant surprise, a good start for the year,” Morales said.

Morales attributed the strong sales to the solid brand equity of Splash products in the retail market. Splash products are backed by a strong research and development to provide the market with unique, world class and high-quality products.

“Splash products like SkinWhite, Maxi-Peel, Kolours and Vitress are No. 1 in their respective categories. Because of this, there is an inherent trust element whenever people hear the name Splash. When we put our direct selling products in our distribution centers, we don’t need to convince our dealers. They know the products are of excellent quality — and they know they’re the best,” he said.

Morales said that apart from directly offering products to the market, the Direct Selling Division also offers many Filipinos a chance to be entrepreneurs, noting that dealers have been trooping to the company because of “high earning opportunities” versus other direct selling companies.

“We take pride in offering the highest earning opportunity for our direct selling dealers. So with direct selling, we’re not only offering a new distribution channel to our market. We’re also offering a fantastic livelihood opportunity for many of our countrymen,” he said.

Splash is currently present in over 30 countries through its distributors and local exporters. These countries include Algeria, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and the United States.

Splash was founded in 1985 by couple Dr. Rolando B. Hortaleza and Dr. Rosalinda A. Hortaleza with a seed capital of only P12,000. Through the vision , innovation and commitment of its founders, the company has turned into a multi-billion peso enterprise with its shares listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

It continues to dominate the skin whitening lotion category given the combined market share of Skin White, Exract and Biolink.

Splash is a multi-awarded company, having been voted as the Best Small Cap Company in the Philippines by FinanceAsia Maganize, one of Asia’s most respected magazines for the second consecutive year.In its ninth and annual poll from global investors, fund managers and analysts in the region, Splash emerged as among the Philippines’ Best Managed Companies.

FinanceAsia Magazine is a monthly magazine focused on Asian capital markets but with a readership base comprising Asian CEOs and CFOs, global asset investors, financial market professionals and regulators and senior government officials spanning from the Indian sub-continent to the Australia-New Zealand Region.