Philippine Seven Corp., the local franchise holder of convenience store chain 7-Eleven, is rolling out more stores this year as it expects 2023 to be another record year in terms of profit.
PSC president Victor Paterno said in a virtual press briefing Thursday he is bullish about the prospects for the second half and moving forward amid tapering inflation and robust consumer spending.
PSC plans to spend between P3.5 billion to P4 billion in 2023 to finance the opening of 400 stores across the country. This will boost the group’s store count to nearly 3,800 branches, including 52-percent corporate-owned 48 percent franchise-operated.
Paterno said the store expansion is geared towards residential clusters outside Metro Manila due to continued work-from-home policy among business process outsourcing firms.
He said that in terms of per store profitability, Mega Manila is half as profitable as it was in 2019 while the rest of the Philippines is over twice as profitable.
“We find ourselves in a situation where geographic shifts in demand have fortuitously opened up opportunities to expand in areas beyond the current reach of competition. Our market development plan will be implemented as we recognize the growing customer preference towards innovation, proximity, and convenience,” Paterno said.
Paterno said that while average customer count was down 20 percent from 2019 pre pandemic level, the average basket went up 120 percent in 2022 as customers were shopping closer to home and less frequently.
The company achieved a record net income of P2.06 billion in 2022, marking a significant turnaround from the net losses incurred in the previous two years and surpassing the 2019 pre-pandemic level of P1.4 billion.
Paterno said the group would also deploy more automated teller machines in stores to help the underserved segment of the market.
PSC ended the year with a total of 2,322 ATMs activated in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon including 148 ATMs in Cebu and 82 ATMs in Davao. This translates into 68-percent coverage.