Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Store sells imported goods at P99
THE attractiveness of Cebu’s retail industry has paved the way for an enterprising exporter and a local retailer of garments to venture into another business—importing of goods.
The brother-sister tandem of Jay Yuvallos, president of furniture manufacturing and exporting company Interior Basics Exporting Co., and Sandy Yuvallos-Puray, Planet Exchange Cebu Inc. president, initiated the SmartCart 99 store, a retail store that offers imported bargain items all for the selling price of P99.
“We want to provide a venue where Cebuanos can select a wide variety of quality imported goods. We envision SmartCart to be a household name and a byword when it comes to top-quality imported items,” said Puray, who is also SmartCart president.
Yuvallos said other than the exportation of furniture items, the Yuvallos family is slowly looking into feasible businesses, including the retail segment.
SmartCart, owned and operated by Dynamic SLJ Ventures Inc. a sister company of Planet Exchange, carries a broad range of imported dry goods from home and novelty products as well as beauty, health and wellness items.
In a press conference yesterday at Port Seafood Restaurant, Yuvallos said the company does not fear any investment losses even if prices for the US-imported goods are priced only at P99 since they considered “market entry strategies” before they decided to sell the items at less than P100.
“We tested the market, system, pricing, etcetera,” he added.
Yuvallos said the company boasts of a strong partnership with US suppliers, thus, the supply of the items are guaranteed to be “steady.”
According to Yuvallos, while Smart-Cart carries a variety of popular US brands in the retail market, the store also sells other imported items that are new to Filipinos.
New products
“There are a lot of good US products that we don’t have here. We want to give to the Filipinos access to these products at reasonable prices,” he said.
Should buyers insist to include a particular product that is not yet sold in the store, Yuvallos said the company will automatically order these items from US partners.
“We want to find out what the market needs, go and give it to them,” he said.
SmartCart has two retail outlets that have already opened this year—one in Danao City and another in Lapu-Lapu City.
The company is opening another retail outlet in Davao this year.
Yuvallos, who is also SmartCart director, described the Danao and Lapu-Lapu outlets to be situated in “big, potential markets”
In Lapu-Lapu City, for instance, the store is located near the entrance of Mactan Economic Zone 2, where over 15,000 workers pass by daily.
The company will open its third branch inside the Fooda Mall in Consolacion before the year ends.
Other than the retail outlets, SmartCart also has warehouses for bulk-buyers and individual customers, said Yuvallos.
He added that the company also offers new entrepreneurs with a package that allows them to buy in bulk and re-sell the products at a higher price.
SmartCart warehouses are located in Lapu-Lapu City and Banilad, Cebu City, and will have a soft opening on Dec. 16.
Yuvallos said the company is determined to expand the business through partnerships. (MMM)
