Wilcon eyes further growth after 100th store milestone

MANILA, Philippines — Home improvement and construction supplies retailer Wilcon Depot Inc. has no plans of slowing down its expansion once it hits its 100-store target this 2024, with the company planning to accelerate further the growth of its smaller store format in the coming years.

“In the pipeline we are still going to grow after 100. More Do It Wilcon (DIW) perhaps. The opportunity is in more areas where we can cover because not all areas have locations that are 8,000 to 10,000 square meters. It is not that easy to find. So that’s where we’re looking at for the next few years after store 100,” Wilcon president and CEO Lorraine Belo-Cincochan said in a briefing yesterday.

Wilcon ended the first quarter with 93 branches and is on track to attain its 100-store goal by 2024, a year earlier than initially planned.

“So 100 is fast approaching. We hope we can finish by this year,” Belo-Cincochan said.

“But basically, we are continuing to look at the markets, different parts of the Philippines and for sure we have things in the pipeline for the next few years in terms of where we will be expanding. It’s really a matter of managing if it will be a depot store or DIW,” she said.

The company opened three new stores during the first quarter, one depot in Mindanao and two Do It Wilcon format branches, one in Mindanao and one in Luzon.

“Before, we were looking at more large format stores where we are not in certain markets. But now because we are all over the country and in major cities already, even in second tier cities, we want to recalibrate a little bit and maybe put some DIWs, the smaller formats, to complement the larger format stores. And again, what the market needs or where the market wants us to be,” she said.

Belo-Cincochan said expansion in Asia is also something that is on the table for the company.