After seeing a decline in sales due to high commodity prices last year, the Philippines’ leading home improvement and construction supplies retailer, Wilcon Depot Inc., is hoping for some recovery in 2025 as inflation eases.
In an interview with reporters, Wilcon Senior Executive Vice President and COO Rosemarie B. Ong said that while there are external factors they cannot control, they have high hopes that public consumption will improve this year.
“It’s always positive (our outlook). We have nowhere to go but to really grow and grow and grow. But we see some improvements in all the headwinds that have been happening in the past year. So hopefully, this year will be a better year for us,” Ong said.
She said the company will continue to expand its stores in areas where it is not currently present. This comes after recently reaching a milestone of 100 stores nationwide.
“We all know that housing and owning your home is very basic. If there’s an American dream, there’s a Filipino dream of owning their own house,” she said.
Ong said the company is now expanding outside of city centers, so its stores may be smaller. However, she declined to give a target number of store openings this year.
She also said that aside from experimenting with building smaller stores, the company may also start renovating its legacy big box stores.
“Our focus is to really renovate (the older stores), to be more adaptive to the business. How we can make their shopping experience more seamless, more convenient and more comfortable,” she said.
Wilcon is already 48 years old, and the company’s stores are getting older. There are many things to fix in these stores, which contribute almost all of the company’s revenue, she said.