By Doreen Hemlock
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted May 17 2007
Preparing for a day when U.S. companies may trade freely with Cuba, a
market research firm is planning to offer detailed data on island
consumers to U.S. businesses.
Puerto Rico's Gaither International unveiled a deal for Horwath
Consulting of the Dominican Republic to conduct consumer surveys in Cuba
four times a year, starting next month. Gaither will offer the research
to U.S. firms.
"With this study, many U.S. companies will be able for the first time to
attain a basic understanding of the average Cuban family," Gaither
executive Beatriz Castro said.
Horwath will study a unique Caribbean neighbor that in the 1950s relied
on the United States for most imports and served as a key test market
for American products.
Today, residents in communist-led Cuba have limited product choices and
scant buying power, even for domestic goods. Salaries average about $15
a month.
Families rely on ration books to buy basics such as rice and beans at
heavily subsidized prices at state bodegas. Other government stores
offer branded toothpaste, beer and other items at U.S.-type prices, high
by Cuban standards.
Many Cubans turn to the black market to make ends meet, sometimes
bartering goods stolen from the state.
Gaither said the survey initially will focus on four areas:
It will look at ownership of household items, such as refrigerators,
cars and phones. It will study awareness and use of products in 50
categories such as shampoos, detergents and pasta. It will look at
buying habits, such as frequency of shopping trips. And it will study
brand awareness.
Many old-timers recall U.S. products popular before Cuba's 1959
revolution, such as Chevrolet cars and Uncle Ben's rice, known as Tio
Ben. And youth recognize brands worn by tourists, featured in U.S.
movies shown in Cuba or sent from relatives abroad: Sean John clothes,
Nike shoes or Dove lotion.
"Cubans have always had a high awareness of U.S. brand names and
generally a preference for U.S. brands," said John Kavulich, an adviser
to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a New York-based group that
monitors business on the island.
The research comes as many U.S. companies await change in Cuba under a
permanent government led by Raúl Castro, Fidel's younger brother. Fidel
Castro, now 80, temporarily handed the reins to his brother and longtime
defense minister last summer, after Fidel underwent intestinal surgery.
Some analysts think Raúl Castro, when fully in charge, may open the
island economy more to business, following the lead of communist-led China.
In addition, more lawmakers in the new Democrat-controlled Congress seek
to ease Washington's 45-year-old embargo against Cuba, potentially
opening U.S. sales to the island's 12 million residents and 2
million-plus tourists a year.
"You always want to look at studies and see what the opportunities are,"
said Richard Waltzer, president of Fort Lauderdale-based Splash Tropical
Drinks. He already sells to Cuba under an embargo exemption for U.S.
food companies.
But some Cuba watchers question the value of consumer studies today.
Even U.S. food companies licensed to sell to Cuba now lack direct access
to island consumers. The firms sell to a Cuban government agency. The
state generally sets prices in stores and hotels, Kavulich said.
Cuban residents also may hesitate to speak honestly about their buying
habits, given the weight of the black market, others added.
Gaither said the study offers a starting point to understand a nearby
market that could be worth billions of dollars a year for U.S. companies
someday.
"Once the economy opens, " Gaither executive Castro said, "Cubans are
going to buy."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-zcuba17may17,0,4896963.story?coll=sfla-news-cuba
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