LISTED retailer MerryMart Consumer Corp. is banking on its mini-mart project to help the transformation of sari-sari or small family-owned stores, its top official said.
“We have been observing and studying in detail the sari-sari store industry around the country, and we believe that the true long-term solution for these hundreds of thousands of sari-sari stores to thrive is to transform and become a mini-mart,” MerryMart (MM) Chairman Edgar J. Sia II told the local bourse on Tuesday.
“From doing the selling of items from a small hole in their window, they transform to become a grocery mini-mart where their customers or ‘suki’ can now enter their ‘tindahan,’ just like the setup of their branded and modern mini-mart competitors that recently opened near their sari-sari stores,” he added.
Mr. Sia said this as MerryMart announced the opening of its 100th mini-mart member supplied by MM Wholesale. The new store opening is part of a project of MM Wholesale, which helps the transformation of a sari-sari store into a mini-mart while buying their grocery inventory from the MM Wholesale application.
The MM Wholesale app has more than 180,000 registered users, according to MerryMart.
MerryMart’s mini-marts have a presence in various locations across Manila, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bataan.
Based on its website, MerryMart is engaged in the operation of retail stores in the supermarket and household essentials category.
In the first half, MerryMart logged a 24.8% jump in its net income to P40.24 million, while revenues rose 29% to P3.7 billion.
On Tuesday, shares of MerryMart at the local bourse increased one centavo or 0.88% to close at P1.14 each. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave