Seafood City launches in the Philippines

SFC+ Inc. president and CEO Elewin Rebaya (Photo courtesy of SFC+)

US-based and Filipino-founded grocery chain Seafood City has launched its digital marketplace in the Philippines and North America in a bid to expand the reach of global and domestic brands.

SFC+ on Wednesday said its mobile app was currently available for select users, but it would be available for download via the Google Play Store and App Store by Oct. 15.

The company said that users based in the Philippines may buy products from physical stores of Seafood City, with 38 branches located in the United States and Canada, for delivery to their relatives abroad.

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Similarly, their North America-based loved ones can send money through the app or buy products from partner Filipino brands and have these delivered to addresses in the Philippines.

The company has so far partnered with the SM Group, Philippine Airlines, Smart Communications, Globe Telecom Inc., among others. Users can also pay their bills or invest in real estate—SM Development Corp. condominiums, specifically—through the app, SFC+ said.

“We created this app with the goal of reaching and serving more Filipinos globally, as well as to enrich and meet their ever-evolving lifestyle demands,” SFC+ Inc. president and CEO Elewin Rebaya said during the launch event.

Seafood City is a so-called grocerant, a portmanteau of the words grocery and restaurant, founded in 1989 by Filipinos in the United States.

According to Rebaya, they want their 400,000 active members in North America to use the app before eventually expanding to other regions with a high presence of Filipino emigrants. Seafood City is currently only available in the United States in Canada.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that as of September last year, there were 2.16 million Filipinos working abroad.

Of this, 77.4 percent are in Asia, mostly the Middle East, while 9.8 percent are in North and South America, 8.4 percent in Europe, and 3 percent in Australia.

“Our objective is really to go global,” Rebaya told reporters. “It’s not in a specific region where we have physical stores, but since this is technology, anybody can use it all around the globe.”