Muji, left behind by Uniqlo, set to slash local prices by 20%
Local fans of Muji have reason to rejoice. The iconic Japanese household and apparel company plans to slash its retail prices by 20 percent and increase the number of its local offerings in an effort to boost flagging sales.
To achieve that, four out of the current seven Muji stores in the Philippines will be transferred by late March to a new joint venture between Stores Specialists, the current franchisee, and Muji parent Ryohin Keikaku.
The new venture, Muji Philippines, will have a capitalization of P175 million, with the Japanese company owning 49 percent and having the right to install the president.
In contrast, the Japanese clothing company, Uniqlo, had a paid-in capital of P400 million when its joint venture with the SM Group opened their first Philippine store in 2012, two years later than Muji.
As of end-2016, Uniqlo had already opened 35 Philippine stores, five times as many, with its clothes, almost identical with Muji’s basic line-ups, retailing for half the price.
Ryohin Keikaku has been supplying Stores Specialists, the listed company better known as the Rustan’s Group, with clothing and general merchandise since Muji opened its first store in The Fort in 2010.
“But sales in the Philippines have been sluggish due to limited product offerings and prices 50 to 60 percent higher than those in Japan,” the Nikkei Asian Review said.
To cut prices, Muji will source its products from other ASEAN countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, the Japanese publication said. Product count is expected to increase from roughly 2,000 to 3,000, with the joint venture aiming to double sales in each store.
More Chinese going to Cebu, Kalibo
The warmer relations between the Duterte administration and the Chinese government are seeing their first tourist dividends flowing into Cebu and Kalibo.
West Air, a low-cost airline based in Chongqing, China, will launch four flights a week to Kalibo starting March 26 and another three flights a week to Cebu starting March 28.
Not to be outdone, Philippine Airlines has started flying since last week three times a week to Chengdu from Cebu and another four flights a week to the same capital of Sichuan province from Kalibo.
PAL had briefly offered a Manila-Chengdu service in the summer of 2008 with a twice-a-week frequency.
Money talks
The discount store Japan Home Centre has closed its Robinsons Galleria branch, ostensibly because the mall is currently undergoing renovation.
But do not expect the discount chain – a knockoff version of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate – to return to the Gokongwei mall, given that it also (mis) appropriated the Daiso trademark, the Japanese discount chain whose local partner happens to be the Gokongwei Group.
The US Agency for International Development has transferred its Philippine offices to the US Embassy compound in Manila, contrary to a report in this space on Friday that suggested the agency was still based in the Philippine National Bank complex along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue.
What has been left holding operations in the PNB complex is the US Peace Corps.
Heard through the grapevine
The Presidential Museum and Library in Malacañang has apparently been having problems with sticky-fingered characters that Palace security officials have now decided to install a closed-circuit television system within its hallways and above the shelves.
E-mail: cocktales_tv5@yahoo.com