Understanding the Filipino shopper

MANILA, Philippines - We’ve been hard-wired to think that we have no real culture. I’ve overheard Filipinos tell expats too many times how 300 years of colonization have turned us into a confused civilization, as reflected in our language, our architecture, down to our preferences as consumers. One European who has been immersed in Asia-Pacific retail for over 25 years, however, thinks we have actually come into our own.

Peter Hammond, newly appointed senior vice president for Asia-Pacific of European fashion label Mexx, said in an interview with the STAR, “The Philippines is a very European country.” Surprise, surprise. Having gone back and forth to the Philippines and around Asia, he had some interesting insights on consumer behavior this side of the world.

The brand, now under the Cinderella group, just opened its first store in Alabang Town Center last December and then in Shangri-La East Wing in March, after going through a “tough time.” Mexx was actually already in the country back in 2008, but had to pull out due to organizational restructuring back in Europe. Why return now? “Now is a good time to be back. Especially with what’s happening here. The Philippines is at a tipping point –– Bonifacio Global City is happening, Rockwell has become a second city to Makati. I think the Philippines has reached a tipping point where it’s going to take off and become a really, seriously considered economy in Asia,” said Hammond. “Also, Mexx didn’t have a lot of stores here then because I wasn’t working for them then,” he joked, adding, “I was with Esprit and Esprit is all over the Philippines. Mexx didn’t really have the structure in Asia to do it properly. They had a tough time for a time and focused only in Europe. Back in 2008, Mexx was here, but it couldn’t get the support for the principal, so it was very brief.”

Mexx was founded in the Netherlands 1986 and was bought by the American fashion company Liz Claiborne for around US$264 million in 2001. Liz, with its own set of problems, had to sell Mexx to The Gores Group, a major Los Angeles equity firm in 2011, with Liz retaining only 19 percent of the company. Since then, Mexx has come back to life in a big way in Europe, with plans to open 180 points of sale in the region this year alone, despite the European crisis. Hammond explained, “The crisis in Europe means that your demand goes from 100 percent to 98 percent, that’s a crisis in Europe. It’s very easy to steal that one percent from somebody else. In the past four months, our sales have been flat (as a) pancake, but everybody else’s sales have been down 20-25 percent, because winter refuses to finish. Everybody’s put their summer clothes in their stores in February and it’s still 10 degrees  –– in the middle of April! It’s really bad, stuff in the stores has been there for eight weeks because nobody’s in the mood to go out because it’s too cold. Still, Mexx maintains its demand.”

In the past, Mexx has had stores in Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines, but had to close them down. Today, though, Mexx is already in a deal to open 700 stores in China over the next seven to eight years. “We’re in no rush. I don’t believe in opening stores in markets just for the heck of it. A lot of dating goes on before you get married –– distribution is like a marriage,” he said.

The Philippines as a target market

Mexx is planning to open more shops in the country, particularly this year at SM Aura Premier in Bonifacio Global and Glorietta in Ayala Center, Makati. The brand’s boutique format has to do with the kind of consumer Mexx is made for. “People are tired of shopping in big box stores. You see a piece you like and then three other people are wearing it. When the consumer hits 26, 27 years old, they start earning real money, and they don’t want to shop where everyone else likes to shop. They take time to cherry-pick their fashion They’re not so peer-oriented today, which means they don’t follow the rest of the pack, they want to be their own individual,” Hammond explained.

The brand has a particularly huge potential in the Philippines, because, as Hammond said, Filipinos are very European. “It’s a similar market to Hong Kong, where they really embrace European fashion. Although in Hong Kong, they’re not very middle-market oriented. They either shop cheap or they shop expensive –– they’re either paying mortgage or they’re not. (Laughs) Canton Road in Hong Kong is a fabulous place, a lot of mainlanders go there, a lot of nouveau riche. They go into Cavalli and they go into Louis Vuitton and they go into Chanel, and the next day they wear the whole lot! But here, everyone’s fashion sense is really strong and that’s the big difference of the Philippines compared to the other markets,” he said.

“But Korea, Japan and China are very, very different. They have an identity crisis there in the north of Asia. In China, it’s so hard to work out who the consumer is. One minute they want K-Pop, the next minute they want J-Pop, and then you see them at the airport and it’s like ‘What are you wearing?’”

He added that the Philippines is also very similar to the Singapore market, in that they are also middle-market oriented. However, Hammond stressed, when asked if he thought Filipinos are too much of bargain-hunters, that he’d seen more intense shoppers than Pinoys. “There was never really a need outside of sale periods to go on sale –– when Filipinos like what they see, they buy it. But certainly during the sale periods, they’re bargain hunters. (Laughs) It’s not as bad as, say, a place like Taiwan, where they won’t even buy anything unless you give them a discount even if they love it!”

Hammond’s one wish for the Philippines is for our tourism to take off: “Imagine how well our stores would do in the Philippines if it went from two million to 30 million tourists, like the amount that Thailand has today!”

Mexx offers a city-oriented look, which is suited to anyone with a versatile lifestyle and wardrobe. The brand has been around for 25 years and has more than 600 stores in 50 different countries around the world.

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Mexx is located at Alabang Town Center and Shangri-La East Wing, and is exclusively distributed by Cinderella Marketing Corporation.