A business that starts and grows from friendship

Samuel L. Po, an electrical engineer by profession, started in the field of business as a trader of heavy electrical equipment and other marketable items.

But when his first son was born and had to spend so much buying disposal diapers, Po then thought of getting into this line of business.

Fortunately, a friend (Julian) whom he met during his kung fu days in Chinatown introduced him to some importers who were selling Taiwan-made diapers in the local market. That meeting gave Po the idea of importing those diapers and repackaging them here in the country for local distribution.

Po named his diaper trading company JS (for Julian and Sammy) Unitrade Merchandize Inc., an offshoot of his former trading company– First SLP Holdings Inc.

Po was doing well then selling a number of different brands but there was no brand recall among consumers. The diapers were selling primarily because they were cheaper than leading brands.

Here comes Eugene Go, a marketing vice president for Dumex (which introduced an infant powdered milk line that challenged the market leader, Nestle) who sought out Po precisely to get into bundling (promotional tie-ups since they were both dealing with infant lines).

Being both marketing practitioners–Po (from experience) and Go (from a combination of theory and experience)–the two became very close friends after the bundling promotion.

Years later, Po asked Go to join the firm. Go– a very successful marketing man, a graduate of executive MBA with honors, and with varied experiences in Bayer Philippines, CFC Corp., La Tondena, Selecta Dairy, Johnson & Johnson (regional manager) and Dumex – joined Po in December 2003.

Po then consulted Go in "practically" everything under the sun. "We became very good friends along with our families," Go recalled.

To instill brand recall among consumers, Go insisted on dropping other different brands of diapers and concentrate first on the children’s diaper line.

"I told him there is no way we can market all these brands. We will be filling up supermarket space," Go said.

Nowadays, Po’s company markets the brands: EQ Basic (economy and quality), EQ Colors, EQ Dry and ProKids for baby diapers; Dr. P and Caress as adult diapers and Charmee (feminine protection products like panty liners, napkins and feminine wipes) and Maxi, feminine napkins and panty liners.

Most, if not all, of these brands, are now very strong in the market and use celebrity endorsers for better brand recall. EQ Basic is being endorsed by comedian Ruby Rodriguez; EQ Dry by newscaster Tintin Bersola and Charmee by Sarah Geronimo.

Since 2003, EQ became a strong second to Pampers which forced the market leader to cut its price to stop EQ from dominating the market. Go recalled that in October 2003, EQ became No. 1 which forced Procter & Gamble to cut the price of Pampers (the market leader), which led to EQ’s slide to second again.

The company now has over 100 SKUs (shelf keeping units) at any given time. Its high end producst are: ProKids (infant) and Dr. P (adults); medium end is EQ Dry (for infants) and Dr.P and Caress for adult; and its cheapest line is EQ for infants and Dr.P for adults.

For feminine care lines, Go admits that there are other products dominating the market (namely Modess and Whisper).

Lucky for Po, his friend Go had experience handling feminine lines while at J & J, where he handled a broad line and later assigned to Thailand and Singapore for a year as marketing head.

Go said that for as long as the country’s population growth rate is at a healthy 2.5 percent a year, "there will always be a market for infant diapers which easily comprise 80 percent of the company’s total revenues."

In the adult diaper line, Po claimed JS Unitrade is number one.

"We are the most affordable adult diaper in the market today. Besides Dr.P has a very strong brand equity, brought by its hygienic property (antibiosis property of diapers that prevents germs from flourishing)," Go said.

Although there is no official market study on the growth of the diaper industry, Go estimates it at P10 billion a year, of which P7 billion is the infant diaper line and dominated by Pampers with 35 percent and EQ with 20 percent.

Though the company is now at the country’s Top 500 corporations, Po and Go want to be seen in every Filipino home in three to five years.

Go has a personal goal of making JS Unitrade a P3 billion company by December 2005. It is now at P2.9 billion or only P100 million short of the target.

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JS Unitrade Merchandize Inc.
31/F Raffles Corporate Center
Emerald Ave., Ortigas, Pasig City
Phone: 916-1111