Kmart’s Anko ramps up Asian expansion with new Manila mega store

Anko, the home and lifestyle label spun out of Kmart Australia, is expanding rapidly in the Philippines with a new 1,465‑square‑metre store due to open in Manila next month — the latest in a string of openings that will leave the brand with five outlets in the capital by Christmas.

The rollout follows the unveiling weeks earlier of Anko’s biggest‑ever store at TriNoma Mall in Quezon City and reflects a deliberate push by Wesfarmers to develop the private‑label into a standalone international retail offer. The product range covers kitchenware, bedding, beauty, fitness gear, clothing, storage solutions and pet supplies, and has drawn praise from both local shoppers and Australian expatriates for its prices and store presentation.

Anko — an acronym for "A New Kind Of" and an evolution of Kmart’s Home&Co, Kids&Co, Clothing&Co and Active&Co lines — has been repositioned as Kmart’s single, consolidated own‑brand. Wesfarmers has said all Kmart own‑brand items will transition to the Anko label, a move the retailer sees as central to its product development and international strategy.

The Philippines expansion is part of a broader Asian push. Wesfarmers tested Anko outside Australia in the United States in 2018, opening three branded stores in Seattle that included programming such as calligraphy workshops, in‑store cafes and temporary attractions. Those outlets were described by US House Beautiful magazine at the time as "basically Target meets IKEA." The US trial ended in 2020, but company insiders said the effort was designed to provide insight into customer behaviour, store design and product assortment rather than to deliver immediate profitability.

Wesfarmers executives and financial results underscore the role of private labels in recent performance. In 2024, Kmart reported revenue of A$11.1 billion, a 4.4 percent increase, and an earnings uplift to A$958 million, up 24.6 percent year on year. Wesfarmers Chief Executive Rob Scott told reporters in August 2024 that Kmart’s standout result was the product of years of improvements in sourcing, design and digitisation that helped keep costs down. "What is driving sales is quite simple: it is fantastic products at amazing prices," Scott said, adding that Kmart through the Anko range is as much a product development and design company as it is a retail company.

Retail analysts note that the Anko strategy rests on tight control of supply chains and private‑label margins. By developing and sourcing its own products, Kmart retains a larger share of profit that might otherwise flow to established brand owners. The approach has allowed the label to deliver low‑priced items that track global trends, a dynamic that has fed a local interest in "dupes" — affordable versions of higher‑priced, on‑trend products — and helped broaden Kmart’s customer base into categories such as youth fashion, beauty and homewares.

Shoppers in Manila have responded positively to the concept. Some visitors to the new stores praised the cleanliness and stocking levels compared with Australian outlets, while others highlighted the affordability and design of the merchandise. Wesfarmers has positioned those consumer reactions as validation of lessons learned in earlier foreign trials and of the brand’s potential in densely populated Asian markets, where demand for low‑cost lifestyle products is growing.

Wesfarmers executives describe Anko as a potential global growth vehicle for the group. The company has not released a detailed international expansion timetable, but the Philippine openings — timed to expand presence ahead of the busy Christmas retail season in a market of more than 100 million people — signal a deliberate focus on Southeast Asia as the company scales operations beyond Australia.

The success of Anko highlights broader shifts in Australia’s retail sector, where private‑label development has become a lever for margin growth amid concerns about broader economic productivity. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned that the economy needs to lift productivity; observers say private‑label innovation and tighter supply‑chain control, as exemplified by Anko, are one way some retailers are responding to those pressures.

Wesfarmers’ longer‑term metrics will show whether the Anko model can be translated into sustained international growth. For now, the company is investing in larger-format stores, consolidating own brands under the Anko name and applying learnings from earlier experiments to new markets. The Manila openings will be watched closely by industry participants and competitors as an early test of how an Australian private‑label homewares concept performs in a fast‑growing Asian retail environment.