Toby’s Sports, the largest multi-brand sports retailer in the Philippines, has jumpstarted its latest round of growth with the opening of three new store locations in the past three months.
The new store opening holds even more significance to Toby’s Sports as it came on the heels of a pandemic that forced many local and international retailers to close physical stores across the country.
“We are excited to open new stores after putting our expansion plans on hold because of the pandemic,” Toby Claudio, President of Quorum International Inc. (QII), the parent company of Toby’s Sports, said.
“Helping Filipinos become champions through sports and an active lifestyle has always been our advocacy and it’s never been as relevant and important than it is now. There is a strong resurgence of sports participation, and the reopening of sports facilities allows us to continue to bring the power of sports and fitness to millions of Filipinos nationwide,” Claudio added.
The three new Toby’s Sports stores are located in SM Lipa, SM Grand Central Caloocan and SM Cabanatuan. The opening of three stores in consecutive months signals the company’s determination to pick up where it left off and continue to strengthen its footprint, now totaling 58 stores across the country.
Apart from the opening of new physical stores, Toby’s Sports continues to grow its eCommerce business (www.tobys.com), which saw significant growth during the pandemic. In addition to its own eCommerce site, Toby’s Sports has also strengthened its multi-channel approach by opening its own malls in the Lazada and Shopee marketplaces as well as e-commerce storefronts for its affiliate brands runnr (www.runnr.com.ph) and urbanAthletics (www.urbanathletics.com.ph).
Toby’s Sports plans to further grow and future-proof its retail business by moving towards an omni-channel strategy, introducing services and innovations that will allow its customers to have a seamless experience across all its sales channels. This includes offering a Click & Collect option on its eCommerce site that will allow customers to order from tobys.com and have the option to pick up their orders from their preferred store.
“This kind of shopping flexibility is the best way we can leverage our large network of stores. And with our renewed focus on customer experience, it will really make purchasing and returning products from our online stores even faster and more convenient” Claudio said.
Health and fitness trends, franchise business as growth drivers
With the opening of Toby’s Sports SM Lipa and Toby’s Sports SM Grand Central, both of which are under its growing franchise business, Toby’s Sports brings its total of franchise stores to 20, making up over 30 percent of the retail chain’s total stores in the country.
Toby’s Sports, which in 2019 received Hall of Fame status as Most Outstanding Filipino Retailer from the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) after winning its second Outstanding Filipino Franchise Award from the Philippine Franchise Association, sees its franchise business as key to its mission to maintain its status as the #1 sports retailer in the country.
“The goal is to bring our world-class lineup of sports brands and products closer to more consumers, and we see our franchise business playing a huge role in our growth, particularly when it comes to expanding our footprint in key provincial areas,” Claudio concluded.
