Kmart’s home and lifestyle label Anko has quietly become one of Australia’s most surprising global success stories.
Now, the budget-friendly brand is making serious waves overseas.
Once just an in-house label for Kmart, Anko has transformed into a standalone retail powerhouse with an ambitious international rollout.
And with its latest string of openings in the Philippines – including a fourth mega store due to launch next month – it looks set to become one of Wesfarmers’ most powerful global players.
Anko, which stands for ‘A New Kind Of’, is rapidly expanding, with its newest 1,465-square-metre site about to open in Manila in the Philippines.
This comes just weeks after the unveiling of its biggest-ever store at TriNoma Mall in Quezon City, also in the Philippines.
By Christmas, Anko will have five stores across the bustling Filipino capital, putting it right in the middle of the busiest shopping season of the year in a country of more than 100 million people.
Shoppers have already fallen in love with the concept, with locals and Aussie expats alike, praising the brand’s ultra-affordable yet stylish offerings.
Kmart’s home and lifestyle label Anko has quietly become one of Australia’s most surprising global success stories
Anko has transformed into a standalone retail powerhouse with an ambitious international rollout in Asia
Anko has everything from kitchenware and bedding to beauty products, fitness gear, clothing, storage solutions and even pet supplies.
Several Aussies were shocked at the brilliant state of the store.
‘Why is this nicer than my local Kmart?’ a shopper asked.
‘It’s so clean compared to the stores in Australia,’ one said. A third echoed, ‘Can’t believe how well-stocked, clean, and tidy it is.’
But the Philippines isn’t Anko’s first international experiment.
Back in 2018, Wesfarmers quietly launched three Anko-branded stores in Seattle, Washington, testing the waters in the ultra-competitive US retail market.
The American outlets – described by US House Beautiful magazine as ‘basically Target meets IKEA’ – didn’t just sell homewares and clothing; they offered calligraphy workshops, chic in-store cafes, and even a pop-up cat café to lure in younger shoppers.
While the US trial ended in 2020, Wesfarmers insiders said the venture was never about instant success.
Anko has everything from kitchenware and bedding to beauty products, fitness gear, clothing, storage solutions and even pet supplies
Instead, it gave the company insights into customer behaviour, store design and product appeal.
Many of those learnings have since been rolled out across Kmart and Anko’s international strategy – and it’s clearly paying off.
Their success in the Philippines could mark the beginning of a much larger global play, particularly across Asia where demand for affordable lifestyle products is booming.
However, Anko’s siloed success also puts pressure on Kmart itself.
Once considered the ‘cheap and cheerful’ cousin of Australian department stores, Kmart has reinvented itself over the past decade into multi-billion-dollar juggernaut – and Anko is central to that transformation.
The Philippines isn’t Anko’s first international experiment. Back in 2018, Wesfarmers quietly launched three Anko-branded stores in Seattle, Washington, testing the waters in the ultra-competitive US retail market
While the US trial ended in 2020, Wesfarmers insiders said the venturegave the company insights into customer behaviour, store design and product appeal
Anko’s stores in the Philippines are stocked with homewares, storage solutions, bedding, beauty products, fitness gear, pet essentials, cooking equipment, and more
As consumers increasingly turn to private label products to save money, Kmart notched a 4.4 per cent increase in revenue to $11.1 billion in 2024, and a 24.6 per cent uplift in earnings to $958 million, meaning that while it sold slightly more volume, it was significantly more profitable.
Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott said Kmart’s ‘standout’ result was many years in the works following improvements in product sourcing, design and digitisation of processes to keep costs down.
‘What is driving sales is quite simple: it is fantastic products at amazing prices. That is what is making the big difference,’ Scott told reporters in August 2024.
‘Kmart as a business, through the Anko [range], is as much a product development and design company as it is a retail company,’ he explained.
The strategy has paid off, with new lines in youth fashion, beauty, health and homewares attracting shoppers who may never have considered Kmart before.
Unlike many rivals, Kmart controls much of the supply chain behind Anko, allowing it to hold on to more profit instead of paying premiums to big-name brands.
The homegrown label has since built a fiercely loyal fan base, thanks to its knack for delivering affordable versions of on-trend products – fuelling Australia’s obsession with ‘dupe’ culture.
It’s little wonder Wesfarmers is now backing Anko as its global growth vehicle.
With Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers recently warning the economy isn’t productive enough, Anko stands out as a rare story of homegrown innovation.
For now, the eyes of the retail world are firmly on Manila, but if Anko’s rapid-fire success continues, it could not only rewrite Wesfarmers’ future, but also change the way Australians shop, both at home and abroad.
