On top of the game

MANILA, Philippines - The Primer Group of Companies, the group that brought high-end concept stores to the Philippines such as The Travel Club, Res|Toe|Run and Recreational Outdoor eXchange, is going aggressive with its latest brand Tough Jeansmith as it hitches a ride on the resilient retail market in the country.

Jacky Quintos, chief operating officer of the Primer Group said that when a brand is marketed successfully in the Philippines, chances of this brand’s performance in other Asean countries would have a high percentage of success.

“The Philippines retail business atmosphere is one of the most active because Saturdays and Sundays people go to the malls. It’s like almost 80 percent of the population visit the malls,” Quintos said in a recent interview.

Even during times of crisis such as the recession that struck in 2008, Quintos said that the Philippine retail market had been very resilient.

“Observers were projecting that the Philippines would be critically affected in 2008 due to job displacements of our OFWs, but projections were obviously wrong, since the number of overseas Filipino workers even increased, and these OFWs continued to remit their income,” Quintos said, referring to the dollar inflows that fueled consumer spending in the country.

Indeed, business has been more than great for the group not just in the Philippines but in the rest of the region.

“Great would be an understatement. I say that because during the time of recession which began in the latter part of 2008 until present, Primer Group of Companies experienced a 300 percent growth in the Philippines,” Quintos said.

It is this lucrative retail market that the Primer Group believes in and which made it decide to bring Tough Jeansmith to the country, its first fashion brand.

As such, Joy Austria, brand manager of Tough Jeans, said that the Group will have a grand launch of the brand this year in the Philippines. “We want to bring it closer to Filipino customers. We really believe in the potential of the brand,” said Joy Austria,

She believes that the brand would be a hit in the Philippines because of the retail market’s proven resilience and buying power. “With the correct merchandising, category and mix and the right pricing, you will hit your audience,” Austria said.

She also strongly believes in the brand, which originated from Hong Kong, considered as Southeast Asia’s fashion hub.“Our denims are hand stitched and very detailed. We only distribute a few pieces per style so it’s the individuality of the customers that will stand out,” Austria said.

Indeed, Tough Jeansmith has been satiating the discriminating tastes of jeans aficionados in China, Macau, Taiwan, Russia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Japan, Indonesia, Ukraine, Malaysia and Thailand.

Quintos said that right now, the Primer Group is fully equipped to expand in the Southeast Asian region. “We are now moving to the next step which is expanding our business,” he said, his voice exuding excitement and passion. “Whatever we are making now, it’s going to be 10 times more in a span of 10 years,” he said.

In 2008, the Group had 67 stores. It then ended 2009 with 104 stores. The Group hopes to end the year with a total of 135 stores. “We’re going to end 2011 with 180 stores and by the end of 2012, we will have 200 stores,” he said. As such, Quintos said the Group is eyeing to have a total of 500 stores in 10 years in the Southeast Asian region.

And yet the Group is also eyeing other areas of business development.

It’s advocacy is to “go green” and promote awareness of the importance of environmental protection.

“The advocacy is to go green. We are ISO certified,” Quintos noted.

Furthermore, the Group is also putting a lot of importance on employees’ welfare.

Along this direction, the Group is putting up a Primer Academy wherein all of its non graduate employees, particularly our Sales Associates, can actually be accredited as students of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) after taking a three months vocational course.

“We will expand this curriculum to a 2-year vocational course and the final objective is to come up with a complete four year course on Retail Management and Entrepreneurship.

This will provide huge opportunities for all our non-graduate employees to acquire a college degree,” Quintos said.

Quintos believes that the Filipino is the best worker in the world.

“Train and make them passionate with what they do, and the Filipino worker easily becomes the most efficient and effective worker in the world,” he said.

Celebrating its 25th year this year, the Primer Group has grown into a conglomerate that employs more than 1,000 people with almost 100 concept stores and 500 shop-in-shops or consignment stores in the Philippines alone.