PIFS returns to Manila
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, March 22, 2004
MANILA, Philippines — MANILA, Philippines— After a misstep last year, the Philippine International Furniture Show here is back on track and poised for growth.
PIFS organizers held last year's show in Pampanga, an area about 30 minutes north of Manila by plane and an hour-and-a-half by land.
Organizers said the goal was to bring the show to an area known for its manufacturing base, but admitted the distance proved a logistical challenge for organizers, buyers and some exhibitors. By bringing the show back to Manila, they believe they've eliminated those challenges.
This year's show at the World Trade Center Metro Manila and the Philippine Trade Training Center attracted some 116 furniture exhibitors, a 10% increase from about five years ago, and over 1,400 buyers from the Philippines, Europe, the Middle East, the United States and other countries.
Last year's show drew about 860 buyers, PIFS said. There were three fewer furniture exhibitors this year, but 13 more than two years ago. Show organizers want to build on that success.
"Now we have to ask, 'What do we do next in terms of improving ourselves and making it better'," said Marlyn Siapno, executive director of the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines. "We hope to grow more and more every year."
The show is nearing capacity in its current space. Siapno said there is an adjacent venue in the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex, should the show grow beyond 130 exhibitors.
PIFS also faces competitive challenges from the show in Cebu as well as markets held around the same time in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Each of those shows has a larger exhibitor base, which could lure more buyers seeking a greater diversity of product and design.
Perhaps the biggest challenge comes from neighboring Cebu. Siapno, however, sees the shows complementing each other. "We are all one brand of Philippine furniture," she said. "It's all part and parcel of Philippine furniture as a brand."
That, she believes, should continue to lure buyers to both shows.
In hopes of gaining more attention in the international marketplace, PIFS also is advertising more aggressively to Middle East buyers in Gulf Interiors, a leading furnishings trade publication in that region, said Dulca Badillo, a marketing officer for the chamber. Badillo said the chamber also has a representative handing out fliers about the show at the trade show Index Dubai.
A group of Philippine manufacturers exhibit at the Dubai and Cologne shows. The chamber and others hope that pays off for PIFS. "We don't want to rest on our laurels," Siapno said. "We want to be more aggressive."
