Cebu retail sector sustains momentum in second sem

CEBU, Philippines - Due to the general positive outlook brought about by the change in government leadership, the retail industry in Cebu enjoyed a promising performance during the second semester of this year.

Retail players initially projected an unpredictable and highly sensitive performance towards the second half of 2010, as the first half’s good growth figure was largely due to the election spending.

“The consumer spending seems to be up in the second semester of this year, maybe this is because of positive outlook of the market towards the new administration,” said Philippine Retailers Association (PRA-Cebu Chapter) president Melanie C. Ng.

Usually, she said the first few months of the second half of every year is considered as lean months for most retail players, however, the dynamism has sustained up to this time. “Hopefully this will continue towards the end of this year.”

However, despite the positive outcome in the retail sector, Ng said players remained cautious in their operations, while the attitude of buyers are constantly changing and highly sensitive on pricing movements, value added offerings and customer service programs.

Bringing up the price of any consumer good is the last thing retails would want to implement now. Despite the active market, retailers are still “tightening their belt” in increasing profitability.

In fact, the game now is competing on value added services and good customer service, Ng said.

“We are very cautious on increasing our prices in any consumer good, unless it is already needed. The consumers’ buying attitude has changed, providing value added services to customers is now the top priority,” Ng said.

Last year, the Cebu retail sector grew in a low-double-digit figure, Ng hopes that this year, the industry will hit the high double digit growth.

According to Ng, the retail sector in Cebu, which is fueled by the increasing investments and employment generation of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and sustained growth of OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) remittance is on its way to recovery.

The sustained growth in tourism has also helped the retail industry in Cebu cope with the global economic challenges.

Ng, however said that the current performance is still incomparable to the pre-crisis levels.

The PRA-Cebu Chapter which serves as the advocacy and business support organization of the retail players is continually implementing programs to address different concerns of the sector, such as security, global marketing challenges, support the climate change advocacy, among others.

In general, Ng said Cebu still offers a fertile ground for retail businesses, provided that retail players are willing to sacrifice a very thin profit margin, and put their focus on providing good service and quality products to consumers.