In the corporate world, benchmarking is when a company looks around and surveys the best practices in the industry it belongs to, hoping to emulate these practices in order to succeed. In the retail fashion business, one company whose best practices are worth benchmarking is - excuse the pun - Bench.

For Both Class & Mass Markets
The registered trademark of Suyen Corporation, Bench is one homegrown brand which competes against well-known international brands like Giordano, GAP and Guess, to name a few. Bench also contends with the other local brands that followed suit, and the mushrooming industry of non-traditional retailers or the so-called tiangges. Although priced significantly lower than the foreign brands and somewhat priced similarly as its comparative local brands, Bench was able to cut across the mass and sophisticated markets given the variety and quality of its products to emerge as one of the exemplars in the retail industry.

Bench has grown into a giant retail chain whose cash registers never stop ringing. A decade and a half after its first outlet opened in Shoemart Makati in 1987, Bench has now expanded its network of company-owned stores to 79, including sister-brand Herbench. On top of this, the company also supplies 30 franchise outlets and 71 concessionaires. Bench has also stretched its reach into some Asian and Middle East markets.

Ben Chan is Bench
At the helm of Bench as chairman and executive creative director (and founder) is Ben Chan. The Bench trademark was actually taken from his name. But more than the name, the success of Bench can be attributed to the man whose dream to create a Philippine fashion brand far exceeded even his own expectations.

Ben Chan’s interest in design can be traced back to his college years when he was deeply involved in the production and design of furniture and home accessories at the Chan family-owned Chan C. Bros. Furniture. With the success of the Bench empire, Ben Chan has proven that his designing talent is not limited to furniture but to everyday clothing fashion as well. The clothing lines of Bench carry the Ben Chan-style which combines trendiness with simplicity.

Going International
Bench tested the waters in foreign markets as early as 1994, opening a franchise outlet in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Today, there is one Bench store each in Kuwait and Guam, two in Riyadh, and three in China. Bench also has authorized retailers in the United States (four stores), United Arab Emirates (three), China, Canada and Palau.

There were reported setbacks in the company’s overseas expansion. For example, the first Bench store in China was not successful. Bench opened its first outlet in China in a small corner of a big department store a decade ago and it had to close after three years of operations. Undaunted, the Bench team re-studied the quite complicated Chinese market for years before staging a come-back, opening two stores in Xiamen and one in Shanghai this year.

The Philippines’ Marks & Spencer
When Bench was just starting, its merchandise mix covered mainly locally-manufactured men’s shirts, trousers, and footwear. The Bench line has since expanded with a wide array of products for men and women. Aptly reflecting its product expansion, Bench’s business description has become the production, import and sale of ready-to-wear apparel, accessories, cosmetics and body care products, and exclusive distribution of imported fashion labels. Bench stores now even carry snack items. In 1999, it launched Bench Bytes, its food line, which initially featured candies, marshmallows and popcorn, but now includes cold drinks like canned coffee.

Observers have likened Bench to foreign-retailer Marks & Spencer. Although priced at the mid-high range versus Marks & Spencer’s high-end positioning, one comparable strategy of the two international store chains is their mix of clothing, personal care products, and food lines to enable them to leverage on their stores’ customer traffic.

Savvy Marketing Strategy
Aside from design, quality and affordability of merchandise, Bench’s secret to its success has been its savvy marketing strategy, ranging from celebrity endorsements to unconventional advertising, even to fashion shows.

The Bench experience is a testament to the fact that celebrity endorsements do sell. Ben Chan, who helped introduce the concept of celebrity endorsers to the Philippines, is known to spend tons of cash for his celebrity-driven ads. His top endorser for the Bench label has been movie star Richard Gomez. Signing up with the company in 1988, Gomez was Bench’s first image model.

The giant poster of Gomez plastered on the wall at the reception area of Bench’s headquarters, made more dramatic by the company’s mission and vision painted beside it, reminds one about the immeasurable contribution of Gomez – or a celebrity’s product endorsement for that matter - to Bench’s commercial success.
A handful of young and not-so-young stars have since then joined Gomez in making the Bench brand recognizable. Some of the Bench endorsers in the past have been the Guwapings composed of Mark Anthony Fernandez, Jomari Yllana and Eric Fructuoso. The newer ones are Lucy Torres-Gomez, Diether Ocampo, Borgy Manotoc, Marc Nelson, Aubrey Miles, Richard Gutierrez, and John Prats. This select gorgeous roster of Bench and Herbench image models is intended to reflect the vibrance and trendy fashion sensibilities of the clothing label.

Nice Ads
Over the years, Bench has also been able to create beautiful and unconventional advertising. Who can forget the Bench television commercial which had Richard Gomez rowing on a quiet sea with a soothing hymn as background music? For that TV ad which went by the title of “A Day in the Sculler’s Life,” Bench was awarded Best in Cinematography at the 1991 Philippine Advertising Congress. Since then, the company has often been an awardee at the Ad Congress almost every year.
Bench’s billboard ads are equally catchy. In 1993, the first of the Bench billboards to go up reportedly caused so much traffic on the roads, it became a news event in itself.

Exciting Shows
Bench has also been known to mount exciting fashion shows. The shows were a hit not only for their audacity but also for their ability to pack in crowds in huge halls – no small feat for fashion shows. The hard-to-miss Bench underwear-cum-hunk show at the World Trade Center in 1997 was the pioneering show.

Five years later, Ben Chan beat his own record by staging Bench’s “One Night Only” underwear show at the huge Araneta Coliseum, which had models and movie stars once more catwalk in sexy and fashionable underwear. It was such a hit that it caused traffic jams in Cubao on the night of its staging. “One Night Only” was also touted as the first-of-its-kind in the country in being successful in baring flesh in a big venue, and still keeping within bounds of the censorship authorities.

Those jampacked shows have proven Bench’s track record in generating creative and unconventional gigs, and, more importantly, in being able to bring together all its target markets. As a result, Bench underwear lines are such a hit, in spite of the existence of quite a number of established competitor-brands.

The Right Mix
Bench is indeed one successful homegrown brand, even on its way to building a name overseas. How Ben Chan and his team have done it is no secret. The many factors which enabled Bench to be a top-rate retailer are seen from the brave ways it has done its expansion, merchandising, promotions and advertising. Bench still has much room to grow in terms of product lines and local and international markets to expand to. Indeed, one good company to benchmark on.