SM hosts Go Lokal store

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the SM Group are set to launch this week the first Go Lokal store in the country’s largest mall chain.

 “After launching the first mainstream Go Lokal store in Robinsons Ermita, we should be launching next week the one with SM,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said last week.

 SM’s maiden Go Lokal store will open in SM Makati.

 DTI signed last month an agreement with SM allowing Kultura to operate and manage Go Lokal  to provide greater market access to micro, small, and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs).

 SM-owned Kultura is the country’s largest retailer of homegrown products and a leading brand for uniquely Filipino products.

 Go Lokal, meanwhile, is a design-led concept store and market platform created by the DTI to showcase modern and indigenous quality products crafted, designed, and created by innovative Philippine MSMEs.

 Lopez said it would traditionally cost MSMEs a lot to bring and put their products to the shelves of mainstream grocery stores and department stores.

“What we require is for their products need to be good, presentable, and innovative,” he said.

 At present, two Go Lokal stores are operational in Enchanted Kingdom and Robinsons Ermita.

 “Very soon a lot of Go Lokal will open in about 30 CityMalls. So we will launch a lot this year,”  Lopez said.

 “The bottomline there is for the first time, we are giving more accessible ways and means for MSMEs to bring their products to the mainstream market. Never before has this been done. And this is on an everyday basis, not only on a typical three days basis during trade shows and events,” the trade chief added.

The DTI said its Go Lokal initiative has received great interest  from the private sector, particularly firms who want to help the MSMEs have greater access to the market.