‘Prepare for real estate boom’

Retailers are encouraged to prepare for the bigger and brighter opportunities that will be brought about by the expansions of top real estate corporations in Cebu.

Frederick Go, president of the Philippine Retailers Association, gave this advice yesterday to retailers during the 5th Cebu Regional Retail Conference held at the Radisson Blu Hotel.

Go said these real estate corporations would add more malls, hotels, condominiums and convention centers in the province.

He cited upcoming projects such as Ayala Center’s 36,000-square meter expansion in the Cebu Business Park, SM’s construction of the biggest mall in Asia in the South Road Property (SRP), and Robinson’s Summit Shores hotel that will soon be built in Mactan.

“Retailers should start gearing up for these investments,” he said.

He also encouraged retailers to use innovative strategies to market their products.

In 2010, retail trade achieved a growth of 12 percent and this has caused higher levels of both confidence and expectations from consumers that retailers have to meet.

“We have to be dynamic in devising our own strategies and must choose to use technology to our advantage,” Dino de Leon, regional manager (RM) of Primer Group of Co, said during the conference.

He said the firm didn’t have to spend much to market Fitflop, a brand of footwear products that they introduced through the social networking site Facebook.

Ronald Pineda, president/CEO of Folded & Hung (F&H), revealed the same strategy they used to promote their perfume and clothing line.

Raymond Moy, regional manager for distribution of IBM, said with 662 million Facebook users and 92 million tweets sent each day, consumers are fundamentally affecting industries because they now shop and communicate perceptions about brands and products through these social networking sites.

Emerging and existing retailers are thus urged to make sure that consumers communicate positively about their brands by maintaining high-quality standards of their products and projecting remarkable customer service.

They should also use these online portals not just for advertising but also to study the profiles of their customers, especially the market of young professionals who are setting the trends in the retail industry today with their increased purchasing power.