Specialty retailer SSI Group sees both net profit and revenue growing by between 19 and 22 percent this year on the back of rising consumer affluence.
This year, the Tantoco family-led retailer plans to expand its selling space across more than a hundred different brands by 21,000 square meters, requiring about P2 billion in capital spending. For next year, SSI is budgeting about P1.6 billion to make available 16,000 to 17,000 square meters in additional selling space.
During the company’s stockholders’ meeting on Monday, its first as a listed company, SSI president Anton Huang said finding new commercial space to put on new stores was becoming quite a challenge.
The group began its expansion in 2012, when it opened 13,000 sqm of new retail space, followed by another 15,000 sqm in 2013. But the most aggressive expansion done in a single year was in 2014 when SSI opened another 36,000 sqm in retail space.
Prior to 2012, Huang noted that annual expansion in terms of physical footprint was less than 5,000 sqm.
SSI has also expanded its portfolio by bringing in new foreign brands that cater not just to the discerning consumers but also to the middle class.
“Only six years ago, we made a strategic decision at the board to diversify brand portfolio to cater to expanding middle class because our heritage was on the upper market. We began to expand beyond city centers. It was the right decision to make,” Huang told shareholders.
These days, Huang noted that SSI Group had consumer brands catering to the broader market like store Payless, which he noted had 66 stores now from Isabela in northern Philippines to Butuan in southern Philippines.–Doris Dumlao-Abadilla