My Caribbean

BY: DONNIE G & BOBRIVER

THE CARIBBEAN Thirty Million People, Thirty Million Opportunities!!

A MARKET DINAMICS AND MEDIA IMPORTANCE VIEW OF THE REGION AND THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT THAT IS UNDER GOING

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the biggest competition U.S. exporters face in the Caribbean is from domestic producers throughout the islands: Markets such as Trinidad, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic boasts large food processing industries in the Caribbean, and have especially strong poultry production. In addition, U.S. products must compete not only with the country’s robust food and retail processing industry, but also with other foreign suppliers. Given many ties with the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Spain, China, India, Asia, Middle East, Belgium, Germany and Canada, products and brands from these countries are prevalent, and some may enjoy an edge among consumers.

In addition, local wholesalers already carry many major U.S. and international brands. It may be difficult for new products to compete with established brands, and it may be hard to find a local importer who does not already carry competing brands. With the strong cultural influences of India, Europe, Africa and Europe, the domestic palate is unique. Exporters need to be able to cater to these distinct tastes and traditions.

The region has excellent trade and communication infrastructure and fairly modern, efficient distribution system.

But although the region hosts hundreds of thousands of points of sales ranging from tokos, fruterias, colmados to international and local leading establishment such as Carrefour, cost­u­less, Goistco, Nacional, HiLo and many more, it follows the regional trend toward small individual orders and mixed rather than single­product container loads.

Distribution When the region lifted import duties and high tariffs during the 90’s and also becomming more competitive through free trade agreements, virtually with the entire world, it became a highly competitive field not only among international brands but local producers as well. The Caribbean region known also as the “dump area of the world”, carries products from all over the globe, usually hosted under one roof (establishment). You will soon learn that in order to be the market leader in the region, you must provide better overall value not only against the local producers but among the international leading brands and your own products imported from the mainland by third parties distributors (authorized or unauthorized). You will also learn that the market leaders vary by country and some of these leading brands will be unrecognized by you. Since these territories (some 30) were protected by imposing high duties and tariffs for many years against imports outside of the region, chances are there are already local producers (with at­ par base technologies) of your products. You will find local competitors ranging from tissue conversion (17 in fact) to baby, feminine and adult’s products’ manufacturing plants and everything in between. From Poultry to Candy and from Natural Gas to Bio Fuels, you will find there is a competitive manufacturing within the region.

U.S. products are imported via: 1 – Local importers/distributors 2 – Direct purchases from the mainland and Puerto Rico 3 – Fly­by­nights. Usually closeout or diverted deals.

Brands When it comes to brand names, the Caribbean region has them all and some. Whether you’re in the produce, health & beauty, consumer or pharmaceutical business, you’ll learn that you need to provide a lot more than just a brand name if you want to become a dominant leading brand in the region.

Many leading brands are local, international or a combination of both through mergers, contract manufacturing, licensees, local productions and/or a combination of everything in between So how do you become a leading brand under these conditions? We believe that there isn’t one winning formula but rather a series of important factors that must be in place to somewhat pursue success in achieving your goals.

These are the basics: 1. Must have the best local distributor for your brand or services 2. You must commit to provide sales and merchandising support to your distributors 3. You must conduct proper training 4. You must provide the adequate merchandise for each specific market 5. You must avoid delays in delivering the order and avoid out­of­stocks at all cost.

6. You must have solid support for Promotional and Advertising support that can be customized to the market’s needs and wants.

Promotions & Advertising Even after you have all the elements in place in terms of product, pricing, logistics, distribution, sales and merchandising, you still need to create solid on­going promotional and advertising campaigns that stand out above all others.

We, at AmeriMedia, together with our partner media provide just that. We deliver results.

Whether you want to create outdoor media, media tours, live interviews, in­store promotions, radio and television advertising and everything in between…we can make it happen. So your products have a competitive leverage to become the region leading brand(s).

Broadcasting Media The Caribbean market has state­of­the art television and radio stations, often created with an international exposure potential in mind. These stations provide all the necessary tools to create a solid, long lasting advertising campaign.

AmeriMedia’s relationship with these stations is directly with the owners or the managing directors. Together we are capable of bringing not just an ordinary campaign but an extraordinary experience that will return in incremental sales and higher revenues.

From The Bahamas to Trinidad and all the islands in between you can rest assure that we are all working for you to ensure your products’ success.

Since 1996, AmeriMedia has been helping international and local clients, directly or through agencies. Providing the best possible overall value each and every time.

Distributors in the region are in need of brand support. They need you now.

Your brands are not alone, they are swimming with sharks, stingrays and barracudas. Support them or they will eat them alive in a flash.