BIZ BUZZ: Anko heats up retailing competition in PH
When Australian home and lifestyle retailer Anko entered the Philippines in November last year, it underestimated the Christmas rush in this part of the world.
Inventory at its Glorietta Mall maiden store ran out quickly and the fledgling team scrambled to restock, Anko country manager Rachel Turner told Biz Buzz.
This year, the Ayala-backed brand is more prepared to meet extraordinary demand for the holiday season. It brought in ample stock of cosmetics, diffusers, toys, kitchenware, beddings, storage items and other household items. It is also offering small consumer electronic items like mini rice cookers and air fryers for the first time.
Anko likewise expanded its footprint, heating up competition in Metro Manila’s retailing space that is now populated by more and more foreign brands.
Yesterday, it inaugurated at Ayala Malls Manila Bay its fourth local shop. The newest store, which aims to serve more consumers in the southern part of the metro, has a net selling area of 1,070 square meters.
On Nov. 18, Anko will unveil another outlet at Ayala Malls Feliz in Pasig, bringing to five its local network. Earlier this year, Anko stores opened at Alabang Town Center and Trinoma (Quezon City).
“I think Filipinos shop very differently … They love to be in the malls. They’re always seeing what the competition is doing. They’re visiting lots of different [stores] and because of that, they’re actually very discerning shoppers,” Turner said as she toured us around the newest store at Ayala Malls Manila Bay a day before inauguration.
“They know what they want and we are absolutely curating the range to match those learnings from the customer, to make sure that it’s the right quality and that it’s the right value for the customer in this market. And that it’s something unique, something different that they don’t get from everybody else,” she added.
Turner explained that Anko’s ‘everyday low-price’ strategy has resonated well with Filipinos.
“We don’t mark things up to then put them on 50-percent discount for the consumer later during a sale period…It also helps us to build trust because you know whether you shop with us today or next weekend or in four weeks’ time, the price that you’ll get on the product is going to be the same…You can get great value every single day,” she said.
And if you’re wondering why Anko (unlike many of its peers) does not offer an e-commerce platform for now (although it is heavily promoting the brand via social media), it’s a deliberate strategy. This is especially since it’s still a newbie in the Philippines, its very first market in Asia.
“We’re really committed to meeting the customer first in the store. And that sense of discovery, we think, is really important,” Turner said.
“But it’s certainly something that we’re working on in the background for our long-term strategy for the Philippines,” she added.
With more options in the market, Filipino shoppers win.
