SUMMARY
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Dairy Farm Company, Limited is a group that operates over 5,800 supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores, health and beauty outlets, and home furnishing stores under well-known brands.
The group also has a 50% interest in Hong Kong’s restaurant chain, Maxim’s.
Across Asia, Dairy Farm also operates 7-Eleven, GNC, and IKEA.
Top that with an increased stake in the Philippine retailer Rustan’s Supermarket, in which Dairy Farm interest is now 66%. Rustan’s is known to cater to the upper-middle market, providing global products, along with fresh, locally-sourced produce.
Outside Metro Manila, Dairy Farm also upped its interest to 49% in Cebu-based Rose Pharmacy.
“The Philippines is a critical market for us,” Dairy Farm group chief executive Graham Allan said.
Replicating success
Expanding Rose Pharmacy is Dairy Farm’s idea to compete with local behemoth, Mercury Drug, a major player in the country’s pharmacy space.
“We envision Rose Pharmacy to be to the Philippines what Mannings is to Hong Kong,” Allan said. Mannings is Hong Kong’s and Macau’s largest drugstore chain.
Allan said that Mannings’ success is attributed to the chain’s expertise in the retail of both high-end beauty products and medicine in one store.
This creates an enhanced offering to consumers which he hopes to replicate with Rose Pharmacy.
Allan estimated that Rose Pharmacy currently has about 200 stores, mostly Cebu-based at the moment, compared to Mercury Drug’s close to 1,000 stores in the country.
But Dairy Farm is set to change that through aggressive expansion, particularly in Metro Manila, Allan said.
Operating efficiently
Apart from raising stakes, Dairy Farm also inaugurated on Thursday, February 5, its shared service delivery center in the cyber district of Ortigas Center in Pasig City.
The regional operating headquarters (ROHQ) would mainly provide Information Technology (IT) support and services to the business units and operations of Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited across Asia.
The group has operated a smaller scale IT center in the country since 2000, employing about 40 people.
The new ROHQ currently employs 150 people with an additional 50 hires planned this year.
Rustan’s IT needs will now be coursed through the center now that the group has increased its stake in the retail company.
The ROHQ is planned to eventually handle all of the group’s IT needs in Asia, Allan said. – Rappler.com
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