UNIQLO is coming to the Philippines

Finally, the wait is over!

One of the most well-known international brand of apparel will come to the Philippines 

UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co. (FR), a leading global Japanese retail holding company that designs, manufactures and sells clothing under five brands: Comptoir des Contonniers, g.u., Princesse Tam Tam, Theory, and UNIQLO.  With global sales of 820 billion yen for the 2011 fiscal year ending August 31, 2011, FR is the world’s fourth largest apparel retail company and UNIQLO is Japan’s leading specialty retailer.

Today UNIQLO has more than 1,000 stores worldwide, namely in the U.S., U.K France, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand Korea, as well as Japan.  UNIQLO continues to open large-scale stories in some of the world’s most important cities and locations, as part of its ongoing efforts to solidify its status as a truly global brand.  UNIQLO operates an integrated business model under which it designs, manufactures, markets and sells high-quality, casual apparel in line with its ‘Made for All’ philosophy.

With a corporate statement commited to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change world, FR is dedicated to creating great clothing with new and unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere.

On February 9, 2012 at Tokyo, Japan, UNIQLO announces that it will open its first retail location in the Philippines, the UNIQLO Mall of Asia Store, in June 2012 in Metro Manila. The launch will reinforce UNIQLO’s rapidly growing retail presence in Southeast Asia, following the recent introduction of UNIQLO locations in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The store will feature approximately 1,550 square meters of floor space within one of the region’s largest shopping centers, SM Mall of Asia, to offer Filipino shoppers all of UNIQLO’s latest fashions for men, women and kids.

UNIQLO is opening its first store in the Philippines in SM Mall of Asia, one of the largest shopping malls in the world, occupying a waterfront site on Manila Bay spanning 407,000 square meters. This massive shopping complex hosts a wide range of retail tenants, including a number of major fashion brands, and is a major draw for both tourists and local residents. The new UNIQLO Mall of Asia Store will be one of SM Mall of Asia’s largest tenants.

Asia offers enormous growth potential for UNIQLO and is a key regional focus of the brand’s global expansion strategy. By January 2012, UNIQLO’s network of stores included 851 locations in Japan and 234 in other global markets, of which 214 are throughout the rest of Asia. UNIQLO started opening its first stores in Thailand in September 2011, following its successful expansion into Singapore and Malaysia, increasing its lineup in Southeast Asia to 11 retail locations. Now, as the brand continues to accelerate its regional expansion efforts, the UNIQLO Mall of Asia is set to offer the joy of truly great clothing to shoppers in the Philippines.

To know about the latest information and regular updates about UNIQLO, tune in to UNIQLO’s official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/uniqlo.ph and its website www.uniqlo.com/ph.

Working Moms and Call Centers

I know a lot of fellow working moms who works in a call center.

Most of them are satisfied with the salary and work experience.  One common complain that I hear from them is their schedule.  Often times, they would get night shift which would mean a great adjustment in their body clock and of course, activities with their family especially with the kids.

But year after year, more mothers are also trying their luck in entering the BPO industry.  For those looking for a career in call centers, you might want to try Stellar Philippines.

Stellar Philippines, one of the country’s fastest-rising and progressive business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, opened its newest facility located in Quezon City.

The formal opening of the new Stellar Philippines facility at the 24^th Floor, MDC 100 Building, E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue, Bagumbayan, Libis, Quezon City, one of the newest and most modern buildings in the area, is part of the company’s commitment to expand further its presence in the country and also serves as a strong testament to its successful operations for the past several years.

“Being in a new location has its challenges but we are confident that with Stellar’s management and operational philosophy, we can overcome these challenges and will help us push forward to more fruitful years for the company,” declares Mr. Edmundo Macaso, Chief Executive Officer of Stellar Philippines during the opening.

The decision to open its newest facility in one of the country’s most strategic BPO sites, the Eastwood City CyberPark, was very significant, Mr. Macaso said, since the location boasts of state-of-the-art power and telecommunications facilities, the two most important factors BPO locators look for to ensure seamless operations.

“Our former location in Cubao served us well in terms of awareness among those looking for a career in the BPO industry. Now, with this new location, we are convinced that we would be able to attract even more quality talents who are willing to be part of this burgeoning industry,” adds Mr. Macaso.

Aside from power and telecommunications, the new facility in Libis is also at the center of an area that provides all amenities and necessities of life like food, recreation, nature, fitness, entertainment, and other exciting features to provide the facility an even more conducive work environment.

In the Philippines, Stellar employs more than close to 2,000 agents in its  two facilities. For next year, Mr. Macaso said they plan to hire an additional  1,000 agents as part of its expansion.

“We value our people’s work that is why we made sure that with this new facility, the quality of work by our agents, their level of expertise and of course, the overall work culture of fun and excitement, remain intact. We pride ourselves for being the global experts in customer relationship and interaction management and in delivering excellent results, and we intend to keep it that way.”

The opening of the new Stellar Philippines facility saw the company’s top executives and management personnel in full attendance, and was even made more significant with the presence of its special guest, Undersecretary Cristino Panlilio of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and other government officials.

Stellar is a leading global provider of call center and BPO solutions. It operates outsourcing centers around the world manned by more than 5,000 employees that collectively manage over 300 million customer interactions and 100 million transaction processes annually.