ROBINSONS Retail Holdings, Inc. (RRHI) targets to ramp up its store openings over the next three to five years as part of its strategic growth initiatives, a company official said.
“In the next three to five years, we plan to accelerate our store openings and increase the top line,” RRHI Vice-President for Corporate Planning and Investor Relations Gina R. Dipaling said during a virtual briefing on Wednesday.
“On margins, it’s largely driven by changes in category mix, increasing the share of private label products and imported products in our stores, and also leveraging our size,” she added.
Ms. Dipaling said that RRHI is expanding its pet retail business, adding that it has seen higher sales.
“Our pet retail business is actually one of the fastest-growing businesses that we are operating right now. We’ve seen strong sales traction,” she said.
“We actually plan to further improve our pet retail business by enhancing the products that we offer, such as grooming services. We are also looking at opening more new stores in 2025,” she added.
She said RRHI is also boosting the expansion of its mini-mart store Robinsons Easymart and hard discount store O!Save Trading Philippines Corp.
“We are also accelerating the expansion of our neighborhood supermarket called Robinsons Easymart. We carry around 3,000 to 6,500 stock keeping units (SKUs) in Robinsons Easymart, so you can actually fulfill your full shopping list versus that of the hard discounters, where they only offer around 500 to 600 SKUs,” she said.
“O!Save is actually accelerating its expansion. By the end of this year, there will be 400 stores in Luzon. There’s a plan to open another 200 to 300 stores next year,” she added.
Founded in 2021, O!Save is a hard discount supermarket chain operated by HD Retail Holding Pte. Ltd., in which RRHI has a 23% stake.
Ms. Dipaling said RRHI is also pushing for lower rents to improve the operations of underperforming stores.
“On the cost side, we just have to negotiate with our vendors to lower the rents so we can turn around the business. But we are actually operating efficiently. We just have to negotiate with our vendors for nonperforming stores to have rent concessions,” she said.
As of the end of September, RRHI has 2,413 stores consisting of 758 food stores, 1,101 drugstores, 50 department stores, 225 DIY stores, and 279 specialty stores. It also has 2,163 franchised stores of The Generics Pharmacy.
RRHI shares were unchanged at P36.50 per share on Thursday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
