Manila, February 14, 2006 – After putting emphasis on franchising and placing some operational improvements, Philippine Seven Corp. (PSC, the master franchiser of the 7-Eleven chain of 24-hour convenience stores in the country) posted total sales of 4. 5 billion pesos for 2005, up 18 percent from the previous year's 3.8 billion, thanks to operational improvements. The company incurred a net loss of 2.5 million pesos in 2004.
In a move to meet their plans of doubling net income from P9.3 million of last year, PSC began its foray into information technology to further improve its franchisee and company store operations that will translate to better sales and more responsive customer care. PSC adopted a new point-of-sale (POS) system that is meant to respond more efficiently to the demands of today’s breed of consumers. This includes the provision for one-stop, round-the-clock on-line repayment and purchase services ranging from utility bills to credit card.
Some stores are already accepting bills payment for most utilities like PLDT, Meralco, Maynilad, Manila Water, Globe, Smart, and even for HSBC loans and credit cards.
Jason Ngo, Management Information Systems (MIS) manager of PSC, said the company has started testing NEC Philippines’ latest generation POS system in July 2005 in some 7-Eleven’s 262 stores in the country.
“After a three-month test, we decided to adopt NECs POS in all our other stores. By the end of October last year, we had migrated 60% of our stores to the new system,” Ngo said.
Ngo said the adoption of a truly reliable POS would allow the franchisees to analyze customer buying habits and preferences as soon as possible, which in turn will serve as guide to replenish inventories in time and come up with relevant promotions.
“With our old system, it would normally take us a minimum of three months to find out which products are selling and which products are not moving,” Ngo explained. Franchisees / Store Managers used to rely solely on store orders because they did not have an item-based recording of the sales of each store.
“NECs POS system allows us to manage inventory item by item. Now, franchisees can evaluate the movement of goods from our shelves on a more timely basis for better and faster fine-tuning of our overall sales strategy and inventory management,” Ngo said.
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“We at NEC Philippines are quite happy with the increase in productivity that 7-Eleven is now enjoying. To ensure that 7-Eleven’s 24-hour operations are running smoothly all the time, NEC provides 24x7 support through NECare, NEC’s maintenance and support organization,” said Leonardo Santos, NEC Phils., Executive Vice President.
NECare provides both warranty and post-sales support to all NEC customers and is staffed with qualified and highly skilled engineers that have done field work to support NEC clients not only in the Philippines but in other parts of the world, Santos added.
Ngo said the company chose NEC over other POS providers because of NEC’s track record. NEC has already provided solutions to 7-Eleven stores in other countries in the region.
NEC’s POS system is in wide use in highly competitive countries. In Asia, NEC’s POS system has led to rapid expansion in retail establishments in Malaysia, Taiwan, and China. In Thailand, for example, there are 3,300 7-Eleven stores under NEC’s POS system.
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About NEC Philippines
NEC Philippines is the local subsidiary of NEC Corporation and was incorporated in January 11, 1996. It officially started operations in April 1996, though prior to this, NEC was already present in the Philippines through its Manila Representative Office since the 1960s.
NEC Philippines is primarily a sales, marketing & services company engaged in the supply of telecommunications equipment, computer systems, network, IP and Data Networks, ICT Integration, IT solutions and services, among others. NEC Philippines also recently launched NECare Center, its 24x7 support center that not only provides after sales and warranty support, but also offers other services like IT integration, project management and other IT- and networking-related services.
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of 4,855 billion yen (approx. $45 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2005. For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com.
Media contact
Marivic Gamo
NEC Philippines
Tel: 811-6051
Email: msg@necph.nec.com.ph
Mr. Shawn Tan
NEC Business Coordination Centre (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Tel: +65-6416 9571
Email: shawn@bccs.nec.com.sg
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