By Leslie Gatpolintan/PNA
MANILA — Filipino franchises are encouraged to expand to other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-states, which offer a huge market of more than 600 million consumers.
Eric Elnar, Trade Service Officer of the Foreign Trade Service Corps at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said the Philippines and other ASEAN member states have almost similar cultures and market profiles.
“And then we have the ASEAN Economic Community, which is being part of the ASEAN, it makes business easier. It means when we want to expand outside of the Philippines into ASEAN, you can do it simultaneously. You can do it simultaneously in Thailand, in Indonesia, in Malaysia,” he said in an interview.
Elnar said Filipino brands are thus getting more access to a larger share of the population of ASEAN.
ASEAN groups 10 countries –Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
In his presentation during a recent franchise conference, Elnar said franchising is considered under distribution services, same with retail and wholesale services stipulated in the packages of services commitments in the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS).
“Under the ASEAN, we have ASEAN FTAs (free trade agreements). So basically, it just says that franchising is one of the sectors that is being promoted under the ASEAN agreement. So it’s a good idea for franchise owners in the Philippines to look at expanding first in other ASEAN countries before you expand elsewhere,” he added.
To effectively penetrate the ASEAN region, Elnar advised Filipino franchises to intensify their marketing strategies, and know the industry, market readiness, and market size.