Confectionery manufacturer Mars Wrigley said on Thursday that it aims to expand its presence beyond modern trade channels and venture into general trade through sari-sari stores in the Philippines.
“We have done well in modern trade channels,” Mars Wrigley Asia general manager Kalpesh Parmar told reporters in a press briefing.
“But if you look at the future, there is a lot more opportunities in the general trade also,” he said.
Mr. Parmar added that despite the complexity, exploring local key accounts could help the company expand its market in the country.
“During turbulent times, these are the channels which keep growing,” he said. “Our focus is more on penetrating more outlets and households in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.”
In 1965, Mars Wrigley began its manufacturing operations in the country in Pasig City, and moved to Antipolo in 1999.
The Antipolo plant currently produces up to 30 metric tons of chewing gum products, such as Doublemint, Juicy Fruit, and CoolAir, daily. Of this output, 86% is distributed to other Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Laos, and Brunei.
“Mint as a platform is big in Vietnam for us, big across Southeast Asia, North Asia, and globally also,” said Mr. Parmar.
Apart from partnering with small-scale businesses, the snacking company also said it will invest $2 million over the next three years in its Antipolo factory to “continuously upgrade infrastructure, packaging, and machinery to meet customer demand, as well as improve facilities that support associate well-being.”
“For the last three, four years, we’ve been investing $2 million,” Salazar Maquito, factory director of Mars Wrigley Antipolo, said in a briefing.
“These are the things that we do to ensure that we continue to support all the evolving customer needs,” he added. “So this will continue for the next two or three years.” – Almira Louise S. Martinez
