Beauty care company braces for integration

CEBU, Philippines - A local manufacturer of skin care products is bracing itself against the anticipated influx of various brands soon to penetrate the Philippine market under the ASEAN economy.

Psalmstre Enterprises, the maker of New Placenta and Olive C, and other skin care brands, is targeting the mainstream market to fight competition head on.

In an interview yesterday with Psalmstre president and chief executive officer Jaime Acosta, he said that although the company's brands have been able to make sound brand-recall and earned strong following in both local and export markets, Psalmstre is intensifying its move to guard its share in the highly fragile beauty care market.

Aside from investing heavily in holding promotions in barangays and big communities in the provinces, Acosta said one way to guard its market share is to make its product easily available in the market, at the same time much more pocket-friendly.

Beauty care products, which are already becoming part of household necessities are made available in smaller packs and pegged at affordable prices, without sacrificing its quality.

Acosta said the company is boosting its partnership with dealers in neighborhood supermarkets and sari-sari stores.

Acosta admitted that the fight in skin care and beauty products in the Philippines is tighter, despite the steadily growing customer-base.

He said the obvious aggressive Philippine market for beauty and skin care has lured more brands to come and take advantage of the growing 100 million population.

Luckily, he said Psalmstre's current 23 beauty care brands had been able to capture the trust of the Filipinos, specifically the OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers).

About 40 percent of Psalmstre production goes to the export market, led by the countries where there is thick Filipino population, such as Middle East, Hong kong, Canada, Singapore, and the united States.

However, he said the company is constantly safeguarding its client-base as even loyal users can easily flip their preferences from one brand to another.

Last year, Psalmstre felt the brunt of densely competitive market, as over-all growth slightly slowed down, which was also brought about by the company's change of major distribution partnership in the Middle East.

In a report released by the Euromonitor International, it indicated that skin care market in the Philippines is seen to grow by US$915.4 million in the coupe of years..

Euromonitor, which is a research firm for consumer markets, projected that the anti-aging market segment alone in the Philippines is projected to grow by US$105.8 million this year. — (FREEMAN)