A furniture company continues to strive to keep ahead of competition by producing quality and well-designed furniture products, while other export firms are still reeling from the effects of the global recession.

“We keep on improving the quality of our products up to the point of achieving zero defects so buyers will have no chance of making any complaint. It is the only way of making us known as reliable supplier,” said Roberto Locsin, general manager of Locsin International.

Locsin, who was recently given recognition as one of the country’s 10 outstanding entrepreneurs of 2009, recalled how his business struggled to achieve success since it started operations.

“When I set up Locsin International in 1979, I immediately got an order. From then, I started the company. But after setting up a factory in Legazpi City, we were hit by typhoons many times. That is why we transferred to Manila,” he said in an interview.

Locsin then tapped design experts who were able to develop saleable products for the company. It also joined various trade shows to gain more clients.

“We are known because of our high-end products, although we also cater to the midrange market. Right now, we are still on these markets and hopefully, business will continue,” he said.

Such passion for product quality coupled with hard work has enabled the company to continue getting new buyers even in the midst of a global economic crisis.

“We were affected somehow by the crisis. There was a slowdown in sales by 20 percent in 2009 against the previous year, but we were able to withstand the pressure,” he said.

Locsin said website marketing has been helping the company get more buyers. “It is helping us get new orders. We even get orders direct from our website from buyers we never meet,” he noted.

Apart from aggressive marketing, the company also positioned itself in the market by recruiting better equipped distributors around the world, he added.

Locsin said most of its indoor and outdoor furniture products are exported to the United States and Canada in North America, Austria, Spain, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands in Europe.

“We hope 2010 would be a better year because the US economy is improving and there are new markets that we are eyeing. These are non-traditional markets like South America, Eastern Europe and other Asian countries,” he said.