GT cosmetics expands nationwide

CEBU, Philippines - GT Cosmetics has expanded its outlets nationwide, buoyed by the good sales performance registered by the company over the years, despite the tough competition in the beauty and cosmetics industry.

To date, the company has over 200 outlets nationwide, said GT owner Leonora B. Salvane adding that the expansion was due to the prodding or prime outlet owners and managers to have GT products available in the respective malls, department stores, and supermarkets nationwide.

“We were really surprise that these store owners took the initiative for us,” Salvane said. “Now, our products are available in areas where we have no presence before.

GT has also noted a relative increase of its clientele at the start of 2012 with the large number of inquiries being posted by first-time users of GT products on its Facebook account.

Salvane also attributed the brand’s success due to its active move in tapping the social networking portal, as part of their marketing strategy.

“More and more people are popping out on our Facebook account with varying questions on how, when, and where to apply their newly-bought GT products,” Salvane revealed. “These people are mostly Tagalog-speaking.”

Salvane said some of the queries are from overseas, including one from Ediburgh, Scotland, who was asking if GT is doing international shipping now.

Although GT has just made its international debut, Salvane, however, said their initial shipment of over 1,000 units of beauty products to Europe did not include Scotland yet as the order came from Finland.

“Maybe someday soon we will reach Scotland and the U.K.,” Salvane said.

Salvane, who is a chemical engineer, formulated the company’s bestselling beauty bar soaps using organic and herbal extracts that help improve the skin. It comes in three variants namely the carrot, papaya, and bleaching organic soaps.

GT Cosmetics has become quite popular among the youth market composed of students and young professionals in Cebu and some parts of the Visayas and Mindanao regions. A great number of Overseas Filipino Workers in Hong Kong, Dubai, and Japan also patronize its bar soap products.

Its new line of cosmetic cream products -- namely the night cream, day cream, sunblock, and toner -- are also starting to gain popularity among new and avid users.

GT Cosmetics was founded in 1994 as a home-based family business in the town of Liloan, 18 kilometers north of Cebu City. It now has around 100 employees and retails to over 170 locations of Watsons health and beauty store chain, Robinsons, and SM supermarkets, as well as to other leading department stores, malls, and supermarkets nationwide.— (FREEMAN)