7 minute read
Interview: Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago
EMPOWERING TRINIDAD’S SUPERMARKETS
Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Rajiv Diptee, President of the Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago, about reducing imports, a new training program, and the importance of innovating.
The Supermarket Association of Trinidad
and Tobago (SATT) is a trade body which represents the interests of supermarkets, groceries, and consumers in Trinidad and Tobago. Established more than 30 years ago to function as a bridge between the public, corporate shareholders, and the Trinidadian government, today, SATT provides support and guidance to members, works with the relevant ministries, lobbies for necessary laws and regulations, and provides training to keep members abreast of the latest technologies and systems.
“We represent the interests of dealers nationwide, including supermarket chains, independent supermarkets, and grocers,” explains Rajiv Diptee, President of SATT. “Part of what we do is empower those stakeholders by providing the highest level of support and guidance so they can
improve their overall business efficiency, helping them achieve better productivity, economies of scale, and higher utilization. So if someone comes to us and they want to figure out how to do that we can, for example, advise on achieving more in their value chain.”
“We also work closely in conjunction with public bodies,” adds Mr. Diptee. “In small countries like ours, supermarkets sometimes don’t achieve the economies of scale of production that’s possible in larger markets. As a result, it may be cheaper to import, and we work with the government to effect the best import rates. SATT also tries to keep our exports at a competitive level, so we work closely with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Ministry of Trade to achieve that. We also work with the Ministry of Health to achieve high standards of health and safety. In the end, our aim is to keep our members up to date with the changing practices of the national and international sector.”
BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE
The last decade has been a trying time for the economy of Trinidad and Tobago, with years of stagnation and recession. One of SATT’s ongoing projects is to help develop local alternatives to the most expensive imported products. “In the last couple of years, we’ve had a foreign exchange crunch in this country where access to foreign exchange for local importers has been a bit of a squeeze,” says Mr. Diptee. “At present we need to make a dent in our country’s import bill because it’s huge. It stands somewhere about US$4.5bn right now. So as a supermarket association we’re working with the Ministry of Trade, looking at local alternatives to some of the items that we import using our foreign exchange. We’re also looking at what new things we could start producing locally.”
To achieve this, SATT are advising local producers on how to deliver products which meet the same standards as their international competitors. “We’re working with local bodies such as the National Agri-
culture Marketing and Development Company (NAMDEVCO) that represent farmers in order to bring them up to the relevant standards,” says Mr. Diptee. “They must be consistent and reliable in the quality of produce they can supply to these stores, of course, because if we’re replacing items then consumers want the same level of quality. It has been challenging but it has also been rewarding because we’ve found opportunities for export as well.”
DELIVERING TRAINING
SATT takes a role not only in improving the standard of products, but also driving improvements to supermarket employee training. “SATT is working with a national training agency to develop courses, which will be unveiled this year,” explains Mr. Diptee. “We want potential employees to receive supermarket training before they ever come into a store. The training model right now is that the supermarket takes persons from the community and trains them in different areas of the supermarket operations while on the job. It could be packing, cashing, meat cutting, office personnel, security, or any other department. But SATT are now fleshing out modules with the National Training Agency to develop a curriculum offering programs in all aspects of supermarket operations. That’s
something that will benefit not just the supermarkets but also the consumers, which means they have a basic level of competency for the job required. We look forward to rolling the program out in 2020.”
WORKSHOPS FOR RESILIENCY
For SATT, sustainability means building long-term resiliency into the operations of their members, through a multiplicity of approaches. “There has been a marginal increase in taxes, there has been a recent raise in the minimum wage, and there has been a number of ticket increases in utilities and other items,” says Mr. Diptee. “All of these create a strain on the cost
of operation. With sales somewhat flat in the current economic climate, we have been hosting a series of workshops to help our members. These include just-in-time operations to streamline their inventory, as well as workshops on warehousing and logistics, cost management, inventory control, and financial management. We also look at infrastructural advancements. SATT is working with a number of holistic items too. Power and energy savings man- agement, product trending management, OSHA management, as well as customer service and loyalty programs. Our mem- bers may not be able to adopt every facet of each item identified, but it allows them to select subsets that are cost effective and applicable to them. More importantly, they are then able to develop these things to fit their own needs well into the future. In that way we are helping our members build long-term resiliency.”
Such workshops are crucial in sharing information and generating new ideas, which SATT believes will be the key to future of the supermarket industry in Trinidad and Tobago. “They provide opportunities for some of our supermarket members to see what they could opt for, whether it is mergers and acquisitions or something else,” explains Mr. Diptee. “This ties into the future of the industry. Where you have an absence of planning, you miss out on the opportu- nities for these mergers and acquisitions. You can see some of the long-established smaller players grow into medium and larger supermarket chains. Some of the older ones may internally upgrade and replace their older facilities with modern facilities. Some of these same members may choose to exit the industry completely as they may lack the desire, management, or even the capital to effectively compete in the new cyberspace global shopping environment. Our members have innovation, creativity, and emotional in- telligence and we want to harness that. They will be the key to success that our industry’s future is based on.” c
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