STORES 2017 BIG Show Daily - January 16, 2017 - 17

2017 MONDAY

Cuba
Continued from page 18

any number of reasons, but infrastructure
improvement is definitely at the top of the
list," Tindell says.
"On the positive side, if you look at the
small mom-and-pop stores, which are what
the retailers are, they do have a lot of retail
infrastructure like refrigerated displays and
electricity," Fitzgerald says.
She recently took a group of consumer
goods manufacturers to Cuba who were
experienced in developing markets. "They
were pleasantly surprised by how good the
in-store experience is. The biggest issue is
getting goods to the island and around the
island. You don't have a lot of options in
terms of ports."
The main port, Mariel, has one road in
and one road out, which can get clogged,
she says. Roads are in generally poor condition and there are not a lot of refrigerated
trucks and transports.
"When we were there, the port road
had closed down," she says. "There were
fresh goods on the dock that were spoiling
because they couldn't be transported out.
It will take investment by the government
to overcome this."

"In some ways it's
an upside-down
economy. Doctors
and lawyers are
making very little
while cab drivers
and entrepreneurs
are making a
lot of money."
- Steve Sadove,
former NRF chairman

ID #13452

Shopped in three of
our locations last week
ID #62539

Shops three times
a week
ID #76152

Store employee

The Cuban consumer

Retailers must also consider the Cuban
consumer. Fitzgerald recently published
a three-part white paper series on Cuban
opportunities. One explores the Cuban
consumer, a difficult task since official
statistics are hard to come by. "There's a
large informal economy in Cuba," she says,
"with the money and goods coming from
remittances sent from the U.S. to family
and friends in Cuba."
The Council on Foreign Relations put
the tally on remittances at $1.4 billion in
2015; for comparison, the country's entire
economy is estimated to be $80 billion.
"There is a small but growing segment of the population ... who have more
disposable income than the rest of the
population," she says. "They also still have
access to the heavily subsidized goods and
services provided by the government."
Even so, they "are still spending it
on basics," Fitzgerald says. "If you go
into these stores where you use your ration books, you have a choice of rice, oil,
beans and not a lot else. If you want to buy
something [besides] that, you have to rely
on your own income."
The PwC report says purchasing
power will "expand noticeably as the
economy moves away from its socialist
base. Private-sector employment is set to
gradually increase, and growing levels of
remittances, thanks to improving relations
with the U.S., should further raise demand
for consumer goods, many of which are
undersupplied and in insufficient variety."
Some brands already have strong
levels of recognition: Adidas is the highestranked apparel company, with 55 percent
of Cuban consumers recognizing the brand.
See "Cuba" on page 18

ID #62079

ID #45968

First time shopper

Shoplifted in two of
our other locations
last month

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STORES 2017 BIG Show Daily - January 16, 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of STORES 2017 BIG Show Daily - January 16, 2017