The North Face now in Cebu

Eyeing Cebu’s growing adventure tourism market, American outdoor apparel brand The North Face recently opened its first Cebu-based concept store at the first level of the SM City Cebu’s Northwing.

The North Face is a supplier of authentic, innovative and technically advanced exploration apparel, footwear, and equipments that was established by two American mountaineers in 1968.

The North Face is being exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Uniglobe Travelware Co. Inc., a member of the Primer Group.

According to its Marketing Manager Jundel D. Llagas, The North Face targets extreme athletes, active mass market, hard core outdoor enthusiasts, outdoor generalists and the general public who have aspirations for the outdoors.

Llagas said that they have considered to open a new outlet in Cebu because of several factors and one of which is the many outdoor groups that is based in Cebu as well as the many outdoor enthusiasts both foreign and local who go to Cebu because of its many surrounding outdoor sites.

“We have really plans to expound our presence in the Philippines and we have long been eyeing Cebu because it’s the prime destination in the Visayas region. Many outdoor groups have also requested that we open an outlet here,” said Llagas.

He added that the growing adventure tourism market in the country is one of the segments that they are tapping into.

Right now, they have forged tie-ups with local operators of adventure travels to also market their products and help the market know that they already have presence in Cebu, said Llagas.

With five existing outlets located in Shangri-la, SM Mall of Asia, Rockwell, a double digit growth year-on- year for the last five years despite their pricey products.

He said that this is because they have been catering to a specific niche in the market that is composed of the A, B and upper C markets who know the real value of their products.

“In dealing with branded products, we don’t sell on price but we sell on product attributes that will justify the pricing. And we adhere to the notion that price is an indication of quality so we assure our customers the value that they are getting as innovation and technology is our main purchase drivers,” said Ken Co, Product Associate of The North Face.

He said that in terms of competition they don’t see direct competitors in terms of their extreme outdoor gears but with their outdoor bags and footwear they are competing with other existing brands in the market.

Outdoor bags are their best-selling product and today, The North Face together with its corporate sibling JanSport, the world's largest backpack maker, manufacture nearly half of all small backpacks sold in the United States.

Despite the high pricing of their products, Llagas is still confident that the The North Face will hit Cebu’s market especially with the 30 percent growth of the emerging business process outsourcing industry that is based here.

“The market is still there and is growing. We are operating on a premium category so people who know the brand will not have problems when it comes to pricing because of the technology that they are getting. The performance of pour products is well worth the value of their purchase,” he added.