SM Markets focuses on regional expansion

MANILA, Philippines — SM Markets, the SM Group’s umbrella brand for SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket and Savemore, is opening more stores across the country as part of its  strategic expansion.

For this year alone, SM Markets is adding seven  stores in Air Residences Makati, DECA Marilao, Tanza, EB Town Center in San Jose Del Monte, Sorsogon, Tuguegarao and Taytay.

These would add to SM Markets’ total store count of 330 as of October.

SM Supermarket president Jojo Tagbo said income of consumers outside the National Capital Region is rising, which makes it viable for SM Markets to expand across regions.

“We are targeting to fill the need for better food shopping in developing communities. The rising incomes outside the National Capital Region is definitely a welcome factor in terms of growth in the provinces,” he said.

Consumer spending is also expected to get a boost from the holidays and ongoing face- to-face classes. Already, SM Markets has seen an improvement in sales for fresh products, snacks, beverages and other school-related commodities as of year to date.

“Thus, we continue to expand and maintain our optimism on growth. Regardless of economic circumstances, our approach has always been to have a breadth of offerings that fits all wallet sizes,” he said.

SM Markets is optimistic about  the  consistency of consumer spending.

The upcoming holiday season will likewise push the business in the coming months, Tagbo said.

To meet growing demand from consumers, SM Markets is enhancing its assortment to better serve customers’ evolving preferences to complement physical store expansion.

It continues to support MSMEs to boost the local economy by adding their products to SM Markets’ offerings.

It also earlier expanded its imported offerings to include brands such as Coles from Australia, El Corte Ingles from Spain, adding to already existing brands, Iceland and Kirkland.

In terms of consumers’ access, SM Markets also introduced more options to the community such as online shopping options.

SM Markets is the food retailing arm of the SM Group.

Aside from this, the SM Group has non-food, and specialty retail stores while SM’s property arm, SM Prime Holdings Inc., is the largest integrated property developer in the Philippines with interests in malls, residences, offices, hotels, and convention centers as well as tourism-related property developments.

It also has investments in banking through BDO Unibank,  the country’s largest bank, and China Banking Corp., the sixth largest bank.