FEATURE ARTICLE
Rustanīs Anton
Huang: New Routes, Old Values
On the Cover
People are the key, not technology - this simple and central
truism continues to shape Rustan's growth and expansion.
With almost five decades
as one of the Philippines' biggest integrated retailing
groups, RUSTAN's has become synonymous with world-class
retailing and with the premier chain of upscale department
stores that are scattered across the country's metropolitan
centers.
Long before marketing
was recognized as a key economic concept and tool in the
Philippines, there already was Rustan's Marketing Corporation,
one of the seven network companies that comprise the Rustan
Group of Companies (RGOC).
Brands and companies
wishing to make inroads into the upbeat Asia Pacific market
find that Rustan’s is a major force and player to
contend with in today's competitive environment of world
marketing. With gross revenues of over P9 billion annually,
RGOC owns, operates and has built and developed seven
supermarkets, six department stores, five gourmet/deli
cafes all over the metropolis. It is networked with 40
international freight intermediaries spanning 26 countries,
and counts 2,500 foreign suppliers and business partners,
group wide.
Anthony "Anton"
Tantoco Huang, Jr. sits as Executive Vice President of
three of the seven companies under RGOC, which evolved
from the original Rustan's that was founded by Huang's
grandparents, Benny and Glecy Tantoco fifty years ago.
They are Store Specialists, Inc. (SSI), Rustan Marketing
Corporation (RMK), and Rustan Marketing Specialists, Inc.
(RMSI).
SSI is into specialty
brand merchandising and boutique management, retailing
well-known brand names such as Lacoste, Ferragamo, Anne
Klein, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Kenneth Cole, and Nine
West among others. This company was created to provide
the new generation of international brands unique access
to the Philippine market.
RMK provides imported
and export-quality goods, such as Max Factor, Nina Ricci,
Denman, and Jack Nicklaus, to retailers all over the country
like SM and Robinson's, as well as the Rustan's department
stores.
A subsidiary of SSI,
RMSI's successful formation was a result of an exclusive
marketing venture with Marks and Spencer of UK. As the
Philippine franchise-holder, the special co-venture allows
Rustan's to market and promote M&S brand of international
products. There are five M&S stores in the country
to date, with ongoing plans to open six more.
The eldest child of
Anthony Chen Huang, President of Comfood’s Inc.
and Zenaida Rustia Tantoco, President of RMK and SSI,
the young Huang entered the family business at the tender
age of 15, starting out as a sales assistant for Store
Specialists Inc. Today, armed with hands-on work experience
and international standard educational background, the
well-travelled young tycoon leads a team of over 900 employees
as they continue to bring to the Filipino consumer the
best brands that the world has to offer.
When Launch Asia brainstormed
about the casting for this cover story, we were beset
by varied viewpoints in getting to the pinnacle of things,
yet we all agree on one thing: Anton Huang's gotta be
here. As befits an interview, we shopped for trends, challenges,
and opportunities revolving around today's global retailing
with Huang. The enthusiastic retail guru gamely answered,
and what we found out may surprise you, too.
Launch Asia
(LA): How similar or different are you from your
parents in terms of business style?
Anton Huang
(AH): 'Retail is detail,' it has been said. This
being the case, there's no way out of a hands-on management
approach, which is basically the same approach my parents
used and continue to use. To be able to service the needs
of a constantly transforming Filipino market, one has
to pay particular attention to consumer tastes, buyer
attitudes, and market behaviors. At the same time, one
has to make sure that one's people are equipped with know-how
and technology, with systems and infrastructure, that
can cope with such variable transformations.
LA:
Handling a large chunk of RGOC's network companies, what
would you consider to be the underlying inspiration behind
Rustan's?
AH:
Common goals and principles propel the RGOC forward, whether
at the level of the mother corporation or its various
daughter companies. My grandparents had this dream of
making Filipino shoppers experience the best of what the
world had to offer, and for the Philippines to one day
become a global retailing capital. These fundamental intentions
are still driving us forward, still motivating us as we
negotiate peak after peak of growth and performance. And
underlying both is essentially a simple but central truism:
We are a business with heart because we are people in
the business of people. We truly care about our customers.
We truly believe they deserve the very best. If we've
achieved an optimal level of service excellence and client
satisfaction, it's because we've adhered to the crucial
idea through all our years of existence.
LA: Have
there been any changes in your corporate vision now that
we have reached the 21st Century?
AH: You
must realize it's difficult to have and maintain a vision,
even for a corporation that's been around, like us, for
quite a while. I mean that in the context of a developing
country like the Philippines. The recent upheavals, both
in politics and the economy, have had a tremendous effect
on our sales and marketing directions, for example. What
happens to your vision then? It would be stubborn and
inflexible, and a surefire recipe for failure, to try
to pursue a tack or approach doggedly even if the environment
has changed dramatically.
Then again, though,
the presence of an underlying vision will make sure that,
no matter what happens in terms of the country's political
scene, we stay focused on common objectives, we aspire
toward a joint and shared goal. The nature of our business,
after all, is apolitical. I'm not saying we are impervious
to social and political trends. No organization is. But
through the years, we've learned that, whatever the issues
being currently bruited about, what doesn't change is
our commitment to servicing our customers' needs.
LA: Asian
merchants join the global retailing craze, but success
will take more than just a brand or a good product. How
do you adapt the current trends in your day-to-day operations?
AH:
Well, growth and evolution are two of the most important
elements of successful businesses today - and ours is
no different. When we venture into new brands, new venues,
new strategies, and new ideas, we do it proactively, open-mindedly,
and confidently. For instance, one of the most important
changes is the development of retailing as a science.
New technology has been a major factor, certainly. Through
the years, we've developed more advanced tools to predict
and gauge the market, to improve sourcing and augment
our network of suppliers and service providers, and to
increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the way we
give support to our customers. But we've made sure that
the art of retailing - the heart part of it, if you will
- is still around. We still trust our instincts when it
comes to determining what our clients want, and these
instincts have been shaped by years and years of experience.
LA:
Many foreign retailers come to Rustan's to forge alliances
with and in order to penetrate the Philippine market.
What are your guiding principles in deciding which are
worth working for or what expansion is worth investing
in?
AH:
We must make sure that this expansion is consistent with
our core values. We stand for the finest things in life,
for integrity and nobility of purpose, for excellence,
and for social responsibility and trust. These are what
we stand for, and they have stood the test of time precisely
because they invoke what's best and brightest in every
one of us. And these values have paved, and continue to
pave, our road to the future.
LA: What
are some of the most important management lessons that
you have learned?
AH: I've
always believed that a people-centered approach always
works. Our corporate thrust and culture revolve around
our differences more than our similarities, because it
is so often diversity that dictates direction. That makes
excellent sense. I mean, if only from a sales and marketing
point of view, target markets are mercurial. They are
shiftless and capricious and adaptable, by dint of their
variety. If you accept this and embrace it, you're on
your way toward formulating action plans that underscore
and point up people's unity in diversity rather than their
dissension and dissimilarity. People are the key, not
technology. Technology is a tool, while people are a resource
and an asset. And as with any asset, the more we invest
in them, the more our companies benefit from them.
CLICKING THE
RIGHT BUTTONS
Rustan's remains the
country's most prestigious address of note of many of
the world's most famous names and signatures - from Cartier
to Mikimoto, Tiffany to Emenigildo, Zegna, Nina Ricci
to Alfred Dunhill, Sonia Rykiel to Estee Lauder among
other store-within-a-store concepts that it has pioneered.
Introduced the first
customer loyalty program in the retail industry via its
"Frequent Shopper Plus". Continues to earn the
reputation of constant achievements and innovations in
merchandising, sales, displays, and promotions.
RMK's nationwide connections
have more than once proven their mass and selective marketing
mettle. The firm has long been aware of marketing as a
key economic concept and tool in the Philippines before
it was finally recognized as such.
More than a family
enterprise, each family member is imbued with a can-do,
unrelenting and uncompromising standard of excellence
in running the entire Rustan Grou
HIGHLIGHTS:
Retail is detail.
Target markets are
capricious and adaptable. If you embrace this, you can
formulate action plans that underscore people's unity
in diversity rather than their dissension and dissimilarity.
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