Puregold’s ‘style’ of giving back to community

MANILA, Philippines - Susan P. Co, the vice chairman of the board of Puregold Price Club Inc., has a simple yet forceful message to those who would want to start a business: You have to make everybody who supports you grow also.

Co said one of the many ways Puregold attempts to ensure that many of the sari-sari store owners who patronize them thrive in their business, is the company’s philosophy of “taking care of their customers.”

In an interview, Co said: “We, at Puregold, are not selfish. We share and transfer the business know-how that we have learned through the years of running Puregold to our customers who are willing to understand the intricacies of sari-sari store business.” 

“We want our loyal customers, especially the sari-sari store owners, to grow and develop their businesses, too. It is good business for us. It creates more opportunities for us and our growing sari-sari store owners,” Co said.

 â€œWe have our own brand of corporate social responsibility. We do this without much fanfare. We do this by quietly sharing our business insights to those who are interested. We want them to understand how they can start their own small business,” Co said during an interview in a Puregold branch in Quezon City. 

Puregold’s Tindahan ni Aling Puring “Gold members” are given the “Gold Welfare Insurance,” a free insurance that covers life, accident and calamities. “Puregold’s Gold members do not have to do anything to receive this insurance. We do the paper work for them and we pay everything for them,” Co said. 

In a separate interview, Antonio E. de los Santos, Puregold national operations manager, said about 35 percent to 50 percent of their customers are sari-sari store owners. 

“Sari-sari store owners are very important and significant clients of Puregold. They are central to our business. We want their numbers to grow,” De los Santos said.

 De los Santos said Puregold has made crucial inroads among “food resellers” such as owners of carinderia, catering, canteens and even small lodging inns. 

“We have noticed that on the average, they order products worth three thousand pesos per day. We deliver to them the products they really need for free,” De los Santos said.

 As of May 2013, Puregold has 180 branches in Luzon and is set to open in Visayas and Mindanao regions. Its store network has attracted over 230,000 members – sari-sari store owners, carinderia operators and bulk buyers – to join Tindahan ni Aling Puring program, a customized service Puregold rolled out 10 years ago to help start-ups and customers boost their profitability. 

In its first quarter of 2013 disclosure, Puregold’s consolidated net profit increased by 105.3 percent to P962 million from a year ago.

 Puregold’s first quarter profit was attained as its consolidated net sales grew by 49.8 percent to P16.09 billion. Puregold’s net profit margin also improved to six percent from 4.4 percent posted in 2012.

 The 49.8-percent growth in consolidated net sales for the quarter was mainly due to the 18.2-percent rise in sales turnover of the 159 Puregold and Parco stores operating as of end-March. The six S&R warehouse clubs and the 15 company E-stores accounted for 16.4 percent and one percent, respectively, of the consolidated net sales.