THE RIGHT MOVE
At least 80 percent of businesses in the Philippines are family-owned. At the micro level of our economy lies the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which make up 99.6 percent of establishments in the country. For 2022, the top family owned/controlled SME are:
- Baking business
- Online tutoring
- Graphic design business
- Bills payment business
- Tailoring services
- Digital marketing agency
- Homemade products business
- Rice retailing or bigasan
In the very profitable industry of beauty we have a few big names dominating the local market. But the beauty industry does not only mean whitening soaps and creams or aesthetic services, but a person's crowning glory — the hair. According to a survey conducted by Kantar Worldpanel, a consumer knowledge and insights firm,
Seventy-two percent of Filipinos admitted that they would like to improve their hair and change their looks.
Young Dela Cruz, owner of Jhanelle's Hair Extensions Mandaluyong said, “I was surprised to learn that during the pandemic my niece Jhanelle opened her first branch in Makati. When it comes to hair care, Filipinos always have a budget.”
His niece, social media influencer Jhanelle Trias, saw the opportunity to introduce hair extensions using a different procedure called Brazilian method, as well as other hair care services at a more affordable price compared to the leading names in hair services. Her business idea can be said to be borne out of necessity as she used to spend a lot of money on her hair as a former cosplay actor. From that branch opened last July 2020 only, Jhanelle's Hair Extensions have now sprouted into 11 branches, and 80 percent of which is still “in the family” so to speak.
Keeping it in the family has been an indubitable factor of this impressively swift expansion, and her uncle Young owns one of her most successful branches.
Inconspicuously tucked away in Mandaluyong's center of Maysilo, customers from teens to grandmothers flock to Young's shop. Among 11 branches, and despite being new and smaller than the others, this branch has the most loyal customers. While their branches stretch from north to south of Metro Manila, Jhanelle's Hair Extensions in Mandaluyong thrives with clients braving the metro traffic from Paranaque to Fairview, and even balikbayans coming straight from the airport. Why and how did he do it? In summation, it brings us back to the very basic foundation of family businesses Filipino style: “malasakit.”
Young said that despite the standardized service offered in all their branches, the concern of the family and its interests contribute to his success.
Bringing the traditional family values of the Filipinos into business, Young delivers hospitality to his clients.
“In other salons especially those commercialized types, it was like I was being tended to by robots who just want to get the job done,” shares Sharon, who came all the way from Mindoro and ended up choosing Young's establishment among all her options because of the warmth and “family style” of Young.
She adds: “And because everything now is online, I tried inquiring from other shops but they took a minimum of six hours to reply. What I liked about Young was when I messaged at their social media page, he responded immediately.”
This is testament to how social media has been helping businesses boom, especially those born in the pandemic period. Since Jhanelle rose to internet fame through her Tiktok account with 52,000 followers and Facebook account with 430,000 followers, she knew from experience how to fully take advantage of social media as the most effective means of advertising nowadays.
Data from a Nielsen online survey on Global Consumers has earlier shown that the Filipino consumers' behavior is influenced by media exposure and the value of money. While Janelle and Young have utilized these two factors, they were able to capture the foremost fundamental factor effectively influencing local consumer behavior: brand loyalty by embracing the traditional value of close-knit family ties.