Philippine Seven chief wins retail award

Jose Victor Paterno, president and CEO of Philippine Seven Corp, has been named the NACS Asian Convenience Retail Leader of the Year.

The award, endowed by PepsiCo, recognises and honours “the most successful and influential convenience industry leader of 2019” in the region.

It was presented before an international audience of convenience retailers and suppliers at the NACS Convenience Summit Asia this week in Shanghai, China. Paterno joins last year’s winner Richard Yeung, CEO of Circle K Convenience Stores Hong Kong, and Tomoyasu “Tommy” Marutani, president of Secoma, which operates Seicomart in Northern Japan, the year before.

Paterno was recognised for navigating Philippine Seven through the implementation of one of the most complicated supply-chain networks in Asia. The company operates 13 warehouses nationwide and overcomes the country’s geography to deliver daily to 2600 stores across the Philippines, which comprises more than 7000 islands. The warehouses carry 3000 items. His company uses the network to offer store pick-up points for items ordered online through their CLiQQ Shop and Rewards Program, making the Philippines convenience chain a true online-to-offline retailer.

“Not only is the dynamism of Philippines Seven’s drive to redefine convenience impressive (eg, the CLiQQ Shop), but Victor’s personal commitment to and support of our global convenience-retail industry is widely respected,” said Henry Armour, president and CEO of NACS.

A one-time technology entrepreneur, Paterno believes in the potential for technology to transform small-format retail. He is an engineer by education who fell into retailing when he joined the company at his father’s invitation as construction and maintenance manager in 1993. Although the position was supposed to be temporary, Paterno was intrigued by the complexities of retailing and stayed on longer than planned. He was appointed president and CEO in 2005 by majority shareholders President Chain Store of Taiwan.