Retailers note changes in buying trend

Local retailers have noted changes in the buying habits of the ordinary wage earners here, which they believe is an effect of the global financial crisis and the high cost of fuel.

Robert Go, who owns the Prince Warehouse Club Inc. (PWCI) chain, noted that there are changes in people’s buying habits where essential goods, like food, are now given high priority.

In the past, he said most of their customers still have a few extra pesos to spare in buying appliances and furniture or RTW (ready-to-wear) products.

“People are even embracing the sachet market where they buy in small packs. They even have shifted to cheaper brands,” he said.

”Convenience is now an important part in the customer’s decision to shop,” he added, attributing the P2 increase in jeepney fares that led to many Filipinos opting to buy in  the neighborhood “sari-sari” stores instead at supermarkets, and grocery stores.

Overall, Go remains optimistic of the profitability of the warehouse-type stores, such as the selling structure offer by PWCI chain of stores in Metro Cebu and other parts of the Visayas.

While shopping malls have continued to post encouraging sales performance, as this kind of leisure and shopping alternative has become part of a Filipino lifestyle now-a-days, Go believes that there remains a room for growth in warehouse-type of stores.

“There is still a market for those looking for things to buy at a bargain, especially those C, D, E markets who are stretching their peso to the maximum,” said Go, who is also a former president of the Retailers Association of the Philippines-Visayas.

He said that many Filipinos continue to flock the warehouse stores because of its affordability, even as more mall chains are expanding.

For the PWCI’s four Prince Warehouse Club outlets in Cebu, he said the company will continue to maintain its low overhead cost so that it can continue serving its customers, who are mainly “sari-sari” store owners.

In order to sell goods at affordable prices, without having to jeopardize its profit margins, he said Prince Warehouse does not buy products from middlemen but directly from producers.

The company also caters to imported products like Turkey, China, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Imported Chinese products include furniture, glassware, kitchenware, among others,

Go stressed the store does not sell Chinese milk products, especially with the onset of the controversial melamine-containing infant milk.

With the decreasing purchasing power, Go disclosed PWCI expects its current gross revenue, which is between five to ten percent, to possibly decline.

However, he said that despite these challenges, it will not stop him from its vision of operating in other parts of the country.

Apart from seven branches in Cebu, Prince Warehouse stores are located in Ormoc, Bohol, Samar and Leyte.— Ehda M. Dagooc