“Consumers seek speed and convenience, but they also value a wide product selection,” Jose Alvin Perez, Ninja Van Philippines country head, said in a statement.
“The challenge lies in balancing these needs within just a 500-square-meter store,” he added.
In the Philippines, small-format retail holds a 9 percent market share—up from 5 percent in 2013—but still lags behind Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
“The rapid expansion of small-format modern trade in an archipelagic country presents an opportunity for brands to reach more consumers across diverse locations,” Perez said.
However, smaller stores located in remote or residential areas are often “inaccessible to standard six- or four-wheeler delivery trucks.”
As Perez explained, “Delivery challenges can cause out-of-stock or overstock situations which are both operationally undesirable.”
To address these issues, Ninja Van Philippines launched Ninja Restock, a tech-enabled B2B service that provides brands “the flexibility to restock stores regardless of volume.”
The service uses “two- and three-wheelers,” flat per cubic meter rates, and centralized trip routing to reduce inefficiencies and improve delivery lead times.
As of 2022, the Philippine small-format market had reached $1.5 billion—still modest compared to its regional peers, but showing strong potential with the right logistics infrastructure in place.
