Philippine Retailers going Global

Recent global report by CBRE Research entitled "How Active Are Retailers Globally?",  China is the leading most sought-after market among many global retailers with China garnering 58% among those polled, followed by Vietnam (48%), Malaysia (42%), Indonesia (39%), and Singapore (35%). 

The Philippines for one is a major player considering we have home-grown brands expanding their market overseas, including the US, Europe and Middle East.  We can be proud of our own retail brands capability to set its foot on the growing demands for quality brands abroad not just limited towards targeting our overseas Filipino market but is being recognize by foreign consumers as well.

Global Retailers' Targets

The report found that retailers globally are predominantly targeting countries with mature retail sectors, although a number of emerging markets in Asia Pacific also feature strongly. Retailers originating from Europe have shown a strong bias towards their own region with less than 15 per cent of retailers targeting markets outside the region. Retailers from the Americas are biased towards the US, but are also targeting European markets, and in particular Germany.

China leads the way for Asia Pacific, ranking as the fifth most popular destination for global retailers, with 22 per cent of surveyed retailers targeting the market in 2014. The importance of China globally cannot be underestimated, in part because of the impact having a presence there has on sales in other regions.

In Vietnam, middle class consumers with rising incomes and a hunger for style continue to draw retailers' interest. Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi were both ranked in the top 10 cities of most new retailer entrants in 2012 and 2013, according to CBRE's Retail Hotspots in Asia Pacific report. The liberation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on wholly-owned retail businesses from 2015 is expected to further stimulate this trend.

Retail spending has also been boosted by the growth in international tourists, especially affluent ones, following the opening of major new visitor attractions. Singapore has since become one of the gateway cities for brands new to Asia. Of some concern though for retailers in Singapore is the availability of qualified sales floor staff.

The Philippines will definitely be a major player overseas, we see many local retailers bringing in international endorsers in most of their advertisements, magazine and print ads, billboards across the Metro.  Its their way of internationalizing their brands and be recognizable overseas in the market they sought to expand.  Most notable home grown brands we can truly be proud of are Bench(Suyen Corp), Penshoppe(Golden ABC) are just few of the retail brands we can be proud of that has long set their presence in the US, Middle East markets and slowly penetrating the European markets.

We surely would see more local brands expanding abroad soon.