A UNIT of SSI Group Inc. has created a joint-venture company with the owner of Muji brand Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd. to strengthen its retail business in the Philippines.
The company said Stores Specialists Inc. (SSI) will have a 51-percent stake in the joint-venture firm, which it will call Muji Philippines Corp. The rest will be owned by the Japanese firm.
SSI will sink in P89.25 million for the deal and Ryohin will invest P85.75 million for its stake.
“Stores Specialists Inc. shall provide the operational knowledge and apparel and retail-sales expertise specific to the Philippines, while [Ryohin] shall provide the brand-management expertise and retail experience specific to the Muji brand,” the company said.
It added the joint venture is expected “to strengthen the Muji brand in the Philippines and enable cost efficiencies.” The Japan firm, however, will only come in if it secures a certificate of prequalification as a foreign retailer from the Board of Investments.
SSI already has seven Muji stores in the country alongside its other international brands, to include luxury and bridge, casual wear, fast fashion, footwear, luggage and accessories and personal-care brands.
Ryohin, meanwhile, is a Japan-based company engaged in the planning, development, procurement, logistics and processing of goods under the brand name Muji, as well as the operation of the brand retail stores and the wholesale of goods to its trade partners.
The brand, founded in Japan in 1980, offers a wide variety of good-quality products including household goods, apparel and food. Mujirushi Ryohin, or muji in Japanese, translates as “no-brand quality goods.” “Its origin was a thorough rationalization of the manufacturing process with an eye to creating simple, low-cost, good-quality products. Specifically, we reexamined products through three lenses: material selection, inspection process and packaging simplification,” the company said in its web site.