RC Goldline to intensify market promotion in 2008

With new shop openings at the Southern and Northern parts of the province this year, RC Goldline Saleshop continues to penetrate the Cebu market, as revealed by its chief executive officer in an interview.

Christian Paro-an of RC Goldline discussed that these days consumers have already started to become more knowledgeable about cellphones and gadgets. “They tend to be more aware now of their purchases and they can no longer be easily deceived with reconditioned or warranty- less units,” Paro-an explained.

“They now demand for more quality items unlike before and they would prefer warranty phones because of the service provided by the company even if a specific unit is a bit expensive,” Paro-an said further.

With this trend in mind, RC Goldline strategically thought of establishing new branches in the Northern and Southern part of the province to be closer to the market and be of more of service to them.

Paro-an also noted that this year, a replacement market has evolved since consumers now a days are more into open line phones rather than kitted phones exclusive only to a specific network.

“Now most have preferred dual sim phones and some also buy more phones which are not locked so that they can change networks as desired,” he said.

Paro-an also shared that in terms of network providers and services, the consumers have started to explore better and more options and goes to chain shops thinking to have better value for their money.

However, in terms of phone units Paro-an discussed that there is still a market for low-end phones worth P1, 000 and above, but high-end phones are also starting to increase in sales volume. “The market now prefers high-end phones with value-added services and features like MP3, Bluetooth and video streaming,” he said.

Next year Paro-an outlaid that shop branding will be the trend and to be attuned with this development, RC Goldline will be starting to strengthen its privilege card offering which they have soft launched last September. They are targeting about 3, 000 partner establishments and so far they were able to market more than150 partners.

“Next year we will continue with our aggressive campaign to establish more brand awareness for RC Goldline so that our consumers can easily recall and rely to us for all their needs,” stressed Paro-an.

Although he admits to have future plans for expansion, Paro-an still prefers to strengthen RC Goldline’s hold on the Cebu market first as its home base before they operate outside the province. Also, despite several interested parties, Paro-an has not yet considered to venture into franchising as he said that the systems should first be strengthened as a business like telecommunications retail is not an easy one to maintain.

RC Goldline Saleshop currently has 11 branches located at the SM City Cebu, Elizabeth Mall, F. Ramos, Fooda Saversmart in Guadalupe, Colon, Rustan’s Supercenter in Banawa, Gaisano Mactan, Gaisano Country Mall, MC City Square, in Tabunok’s Fiesta Mall and in Fooda Saversmart in Consolacion.