- ContributedIndira Couch, centre, a director of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association, in discussion with John Pickering, international marketing manager of Safeway plc, and Barbara Tapper, diplomatic liaison at JAMPRO. In the background are Robert Joseph, managing director of Nico Distributors and Enith Williams, JAMPRO's communications manager.
THE FIRST round of exploratory talks that could lead to the mass distribution of qualifying Jamaican products in the United Kingdom by Safeway plc - the U.K.'s fourth largest supermarket chain - took place on August 29 at the offices of JAMPRO.
The export opportunity comes as part of a deal for reciprocal trade signed by Safeway and Nico Distributors of Montego Bay, exclusive distributors of Safeway products in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. It is designed to allow a range of Jamaican products - from food items to nutraceuticals - access to the large and sophisticated U.K. market.
Robert Joseph, managing director of Nico Distributors, told the meeting - which was attended by representatives of Safeway, Nico Distributors, JAMPRO, the Jamaica Manufacturers Association and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce - that Nico has already begun to be contacted directly by potential exporters in Jamaica and other Caribbean markets such as Trinidad & Tobago. Nico Distributors will be doing the initial assessment of all the Jamaican products on behalf of Safeway, prior to bringing the Safeway buyers into the mix.
Safeway's international marketing manager, John Pickering, described the reciprocal trade offer as a huge opportunity for Jamaican manufacturers of quality goods. In addition to the pace-setting reputation Safeway already has for supplying the U.K.'s ethnic market, the organisation's 490-location supermarket chain is able to offer impressive shelf space into the wider U.K. market to products that meet Safeway's quality standards. Safeway also has some "very good contacts" in other European locations, Mr. Pickering said.
He also pointed out that small producers should not worry about their ability to qualify for participation in the opportunity. "We deal with manufacturers that are as large as Proctor and Gamble, but we also work with very small producers who may only be able to supply three or four of our stores at the start but with whom we grow as they do," he said.
The critical requirement, he added, is for suppliers to produce at a high standard and to support this with good service and consistent supply. He emphasised the need to approach the reciprocal trade process properly - ensuring that prospects are selected carefully for evaluation.
Phase one will begin in the last quarter of 2000. It will see the Nico managing director visiting Safeway's technology centre in the U.K. to meet Safeway's 70 buyers and its hygiene and other staff, and to get special training/orientation regarding the Safeway process, while "bringing (Robert Joseph's) own expertise as a trained chef to bear on taste tests that will need to be conducted on Jamaican foods."
Mr. Pickering emphasised that it was important for everyone involved to understand the process and its demands, and to establish a foundation that would give the deal the greatest chance to succeed. Part of the orientation to ensure this, could involve a seminar for manufacturers and exporters, conducted by Safeway and Nico experts later this year.
