Island Souvenirs awakens a "sleeping giant" industry

For over a hundred years or more, the Philippine souvenir industry remained "a sleeping giant"- regarded only as a cottage industry. Not until Island Souvenirs Inc. (ISI) entered one of the oldest trades in 1992.

This company is one of the few concrete examples that a Filipino, or a Cebuano homegrown brand can conquer the demanding world market.

Now, the Cebu-based souvenir products manufacturer and trendsetter is worth P300 million, the most successful and profitable subsidiary of garment and retail conglomerate Aldeguer Group of Companies (AGC).

Driven by a vision of tapping the tourist market, which in the early 1990's showed unprecedented signs of growth especially in Cebu, Islands Souvenirs introduced a new and exciting dimension in souvenir shopping. Its products captured the tropical experience of the Philippine Islands.

There is no question that the company, a brainchild of its president Jonathan Jay P. Aldeguer gained recognitions- left and right, not only in its home country, but in the international scene.

"I actually started selling souvenir t-shirts to friends from my trips abroad during my college days. Back then, I already saw the huge potential of the souvenir industry in the Philippines," said Jay.

Backed up by his family's support and wide experience in garment and retail trade, Jay bravely break into the untapped souvenir sector and opened a small bamboo cart in one of Cebu's department stores in 1992, initially to sell souvenir t-shirts that carried fresh design and workmanship, which quickly created a stir in the market.

"We injected new ideas and concepts to souvenirs and all of a sudden our products stood out from the rest even in world class tourist destinations. This is brought about by strategic branding, creative designs, and good quality. So for as long as people still sell souvenirs as they did a hundred years ago, we will always be a step ahead," Jay shared.

In a span of 13 years, ISI now has over 100 department store outlets, and 30 stand-alone stores nationwide. Few of these outlets are operated by Filipino franchisees.

Without reluctance Jay bared that the company's chosen way on how to "effectively" play the game. He said Islands Souvenirs growth opportunities are vast and multifaceted.

In the domestic front, "we are expanding rapidly through a very aggressive and attractive franchise campaign which not only allows us to be present in the major tourist destinations but also in new and upcoming destinations in the country such as Siargao, Bantayan, Siquijor and many others. We project to open at least 10 domestic franchises a year."

The company is also evolving to expand the souvenir concept into a full-blown "pasalubong" store through its two-story one stop Pasalubong Center in Mactan Island, Cebu.

"We recognized that other than the products that the company carries, there are other pasalubong items that also have potential but lack the proper retailing environment. We plan to professionalize and improve on the retailing of souvenir and delicacies of a destination in a more exciting concept and format. We hope to replicate this concept in different places in the Philippines soon," Jay said.



He declared that the company's greatest advantage over other players in the same industry is its capacity to wake up the "giant" that has been sleeping for years.

"I think our biggest advantage was and still is the general perception of the souvenir industry as a cottage-type business and our advantage lies in the fact that we recognized that it was a sleeping giant in terms of potential."

Thus, he added that the company's growth is not only limited to the Philippine market, it started to conquer the multi-billion dollar souvenir industry in the world.

Through Island Souvenirs Franchise International, the company was able to break into international ground, having outlets in Singapore, Okinawa, Macau, and San Francisco.

Although, the international market shows juicy opportunities for this industry, Jay said ISI is very careful and prudent in its international ventures saying "because we are doing business on unfamiliar ground we are very prudent in selecting our destinations."

Macau for instance, which draws 15 million tourists a year is not an easy journey, to be able to penetrate that market and build a strong network and brand will take years to develop, he believes.

"But then again, we are driven by the fact that the industry that we are in is a multi-million dollar industry, with the proliferation of souvenir items and shops around the world. Yet, there is no major brand that exists to dominate this niche. We know it's a little ambitious, but we want to be that brand someday," he said with convincing confidence.

Aside from opening franchise campaigns both in local and international grounds, Island Souvenirs is taking another avenue for growth, which is to take advantage of Filipinos' rich creativity talent, and exporting services and concept.

"Another avenue we are looking at is exporting our creative and merchandising services to tourism oriented establishments, institutions and brands. We have done designs and merchandise for some of the top international hotels and brands that are in the tourism industry and they recognize that we are able to capture, create and develop merchandise concepts that are consistent with their brand and marketing efforts. We plan to pursue this program more aggressively next year," he said.

With this new venture, ISI is positioned to accept design requirements for different lines of merchandize especially for hotels, resorts, retail outlets worldwide.

Amid the promising route of the global souvenir industry, which Cebu's Island Souvenir is taking in, Jay is also resolved that a long the way, the travel will surely experience "engine troubles", that he described as part of the journey.

"I guess the greatest challenge is that the travel industry is facing a rather turbulent time with all these unforeseen events happening around the world. That is something beyond our control. Other than that, our biggest challenge is to bring our success to international shores. I'd like to believe we're well on our way," he concluded.