FairPrice, Singapore's Largest Supermarket Retailer, Is Coming to the Philippines (Sort Of)
FairPrice, Singapore’s largest grocery retailer, is entering the Philippine market soon. But don’t expect to see the familiar FairPrice logo popping up on supermarkets all over the city. Instead, the company said it is introducing its range of its branded products in the local retail market.
While FairPrice is best-known for its network of groceries and supermarkets all over the Lion City, it actually has a portfolio of other businesses. It currently has a total of over 370 outlets, including convenience stores (under the FairPrice Xpress and Cheers brands), pharmacies (Unity), food services (Kopitiam, FoodFare), supply chain and logistics (GLS), cleaning services (Cleaning Concept), and its own brand of retail goods, from fresh and packaged foods to bread, cooking oil, snacks, and many others.
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It is this line of FairPrice’s own brand of goods—over 2,000 individual products—that the company is launching here in Manila soon. This includes its popular FairPrice Nuts and Potato Chips as well as things like bathroom tissues, fresh milk, cheese slices, even bacon and chicken nuggets.
Supermarkets launching their own branded products for years. International retailers like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose in the U.K. and even SM here in the country (SM Bonus) have offered own-label products for years. Studies have shown that big retailers earn better margins selling their own-label products versus other branded goods.
However, if you’re worried that supermarkets will soon start replacing their shelves with nothing but their own-label goods, that scenario isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. “Retailer own-labels are still slightly behind brands when it comes to loyalty,” said Jill Livesey from Him! Research & Consulting, in a story in The Guardian. “Our research shows shoppers are more than happy to switch back to national brands if they are available at a similar or better price than the equivalent private label product.”
Meanwhile, that’s not stopping a huge international company like FairPrice from expanding its products outside of its home country to get a slice of a wider market.
“We believe that the Philippines would be the perfect first stop for the brand because many are familiar with Singapore-quality food items,” said Grace Chua, FairPrice Own Brands CEO, in a statement. “Singapore is a popular tourist destination and also home to thousands of Filipinos. So, we’re looking forward to bringing our Own Brands to the Philippine market this year.”
According to FairPrice’s website, its Own Brand products in Singapore “are priced 10 to 15 percent lower than those of other leading brands but are comparable in quality.” OwnBrand’s won the Brand Transformation of the Year Award at the 2023 Retail Asia Awards.
FairPrice is participating at this year’s Singaporium, a consumer brand showcase featuring familiar brands from our ASEAN neighbor. Co-organized by SM Malls and Enterprise Singapore, the event offers a “one-stop shopping experience for Filipino consumers to immerse themselves in a collective of well-loved Singapore brands.”
Singaporium is happening at SM Aura in Taguig City from August 18 to 27, 2023.
