Splash goes direct to the point

MANILA, Philippines - Splash Corporation, one of the country’s top personal care, beauty, health and wellness companies, recently announced that it has launched its direct selling division to further boost its presence in the market.

Officially launched last November, the Splash direct selling division opened its first business center in Starmall along Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong, offering to the public world-class personal care, beauty, health and wellness products. The first distribution center had an immediate positive impact that led to the opening of a second business center last March in Araneta Center, after only three months in operation.

“It’s very exciting, indeed,” said Gary Morales, GM for direct selling of Splash Corporation. “We decided to expand to this new distribution channel because we wanted to be more ‘up close and personal’ with our target market. Direct selling is a very personal and intimate way of selling. A lot of trust is involved. And we believe we have brands that people can trust. The results have certainly proven it. We expected the response to be positive — but we didn’t expect it to grow this fast. It’s a very pleasant surprise — a good start for the year.”

Morales said that sales from the direct selling unit are growing tremendously — almost doubling every month.   He attributed the strong sales to the solid brand equity of Splash products in the retail market.    “Splash products like SkinWhite, Maxi-Peel, Kolours and Vitress are number one in their respective categories. Because of this, there is an inherent trust element whenever people hear the name Splash. When we put our direct selling products in our distribution centers, we don’t need to convince our dealers. They know the products are of excellent quality and they know they’re the best,” he said.

Morales pointed out why Splash decided to venture into direct selling. He said, “People are very open to direct selling because of the convenience and the credit terms it offers.   In direct selling, we go to the market. So they (the customers) don’t have to go to the retail chains to buy. Plus they get to pay in installment. So people are more than happy to pay a premium for those benefits.”

According to the World Federation of Direct Selling the direct selling industry in the country is roughly worth P18 billion annually.    The industry is also growing between 12 and 15 percent annually. For this reason, Morales believes that there is a great upside in venturing into this new distribution channel. He also said that there are over two million direct selling agents in the Philippines — clear proof that direct selling is a solid business strategy.

“We’re very encouraged with the first few months of our operations,” said Morales. “We plan to open a lot more distribution centers this year, so that by the end of the year, we will be in the double digits. Direct selling will be our 3rd growth engine, the other two being our domestic retail sales, and our international operations.”

Morales added that apart from directly offering Splash products to the market, the direct selling division also offers many Filipinos a chance to be entrepreneurs. “We take pride in offering the highest earning opportunity for our direct selling dealers. We’re not only offering a new distribution channel to our market, we’re also offering a fantastic livelihood opportunity for many of our countrymen.”