Philippine Seven Corporation (PSC), operator of 7-Eleven, the leading convenience store chain in the Philippines, has announced its plans for 2006 including building stronger brands in partnership with its suppliers. The announcement was made during the annual 7-Eleven Supplier’s Night held at the NBC Tent, The Fort, Taguig City.

In his speech, PSC president Jose Victor Paterno said that 7-Eleven would now concentrate on branding after investing in infrastructure like state-of-the-art Point-of-Sale terminals and a bigger warehouse last year. “If 2005 was the year for building infrastructure, 2006 will be the year for building brands,” he said.

In doing so, 7-Eleven will look at customer demographics – studying which type of customer buys a certain product – to help suppliers draw up better product merchandising strategies and marketing plans.

Paterno urged the suppliers to support 7-Eleven store clerks as they can be valuable links to store patrons. “Unlike promodisers who only stock shelves, our clerks also build relationships with customers. These customer relationships and merchandising expertise in our store people are one of the main reasons why we are pushing into franchising,” Paterno said, adding “7-Eleven franchisees have developed relationships with their employees and customers that corporate store managers cannot match. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that our franchisees grew their sales by 17% against the average of 6%.”

As the country’s leading convenience store chain, 7-Eleven offers a competitive franchise program for potential business partners. With 7-Eleven’s wide network, global reach and established operating system, franchisees are assured of a close partnership that is based on trust, transparency and proven business acumen.

*For more information, please contact the Franchise Marketing Group at tel. nos. 726-9968; mobile (0920) 9508651 or visit their website www.7-eleven.com.ph.