Tuesday, September 24, 2013

How the Distributors Should Be Supervised By Suppliers


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It is a known fact that a lot of supplier industries are experiencing relationship issues with the firms that distribute their services or products. This is due to the fact that the distributors have similar functions as salespeople or even employees in a number of ways. Over all, these people are the outlet that the supplier taps to penetrate the marketplace.

As an example, the customer packaged goods distributors (CPGs) for a firm that sells insurance are actually the insurance agencies that promote and sell the coverage and policies of the supplier. For a corporation that disperses drinks, the distributors are the wholesalers who would sell their inventory to a retailer, who will then sell that merchandise to the end consumer. And as a final example, a manufacturer of cars, the distributors equal the business agreements that sell the automobiles of the supplier to the buyers.

The thing here is that distributors normally have intensely demanding prerequisites, just like the consumers would. If the suppliers are not able to reach their targets, the partnership will weaken.

So how must suppliers maintain their workers and the distributor firms? Do they treat them like customers or like employees? Based on thorough research on the businesses of automotives, financial services, CPGs, medical tools, and insurance, the answer is simple: Suppliers have to treat them like employees and customers. More importantly, the most efficient distributor-supplier partnerships have suppliers treating their distributors like they are associates.

The analysis also shows that managing and gauging the distributor-supplier partnership can optimize the working performance of the customer packed goods distributors. Before it becomes a reality though, the suppliers have to get through two major trials: watching over their brand when they are able to get to the consumers solely through an outside entity and retaining and recruiting a lot of talented individuals that work with the other party.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Small Consolidators Deliver Opportunities to Private Equities


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Food sector consolidation while the recession was affecting the global economy gave windows of opportunity for private equities to place their money in smaller firms that have a diverse community of consumers and unique products.

Because of the recession, the major retailers are stretching the credit amount that the Philippines food consolidator needs. The bad thing is that this business transaction forces the small enterprises into financial pressure. Since the banks are not in favor with extending their credit, the suppliers who are having a hard time will most likely be acquired by another company.

The private equity is regularly considered as stripping assets and losses of jobs, but the case here is really the opposite. If the firm is able to apply professional concentration and classifying the items that are compatible with an enterprise, it will help expand the business within a time frame of 3 to 4 years. A declining industry that is in need of a turnover and refocus can grow up to 4 times its size in the care of a private equity company. The firm just has to make sure that they know what they are getting into if they choose to invest.

The smaller corporations have a tendency to be creative and revolutionize, but it will be a difficult task to form a brand or another type of competitive advantage. In general, private branding is a threat in the making since the original brands of the retailers are going to lock horns with the goods that are branded.

To make the already complex matters worse, the private label is rapidly becoming a common thing in the Philippine food consolidator business world of today. As an example, the typical grocery store now has the opportunity to sell parallel items in an economy range, a luxury range, and even the fair trade range.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Food service Distribution Economics


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The conflict between the distributors and the food service producers has been growing for many years now. The obvious recognition that both parties need for each other maintains the diplomacy in the partnership, although it is still a fact that these two entities have their occasional differences. Each side is contending with the other to be the first one to get more percentage points, and education is one way to help solve this issue. Being familiar with the economics of food service distribution is one method for both parties to reach an agreement.

The market would have a lot more than one food service distributor at a time, and these companies vary by size. The rate of acquisitions and mergers during the last decade has formed an empty space in between. Because of this, the leading regional distributor that has been earning anywhere from $50 to $100 million has experienced a lot of pressure. Since these local distributors are not fast enough to dominate the smaller players and lack the funds to compete against the major forms, a lot of these businesses have decided to let their brands be acquired.

The main objective of food service distribution is managing and generating gross profit. Since the decade of the 70’s, the distribution margins have been constantly shrinking. There was a time where a margin of 25% was the norm, and then that percentage eventually went down to the range of 16-18%. The expenses have piled up, forcing the distributors of the “middle market” to turn into takeover targets. A typical distributor would earn around 16-18% gross profit while operating with an estimated 14-16% operational cost.

For a food service distributor, operational costs are normally split into four classifications: delivery, warehousing, administration, and sales costs. Amazingly, these categories are more or less equal in terms of their entire contribution. Maintaining all the expenses without impacting the overall service is a challenge that gets more difficult for the firm.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The Laws and Regulations of the Philippine Customs Department


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Every country in the world has its government agency known as the Customs department. This governing body is responsible for enforcing and upholding the regulations and rules, to protect and collect the revenues which are related to imports, and to document and regulate the passage of goods out of and in the nation. Because the Philippines is one of the central regions in Southeast Asia, thousands of cargo planes or ships pass by the islands carrying people or products to their assigned destinations. And because of rampant smuggling of contraband or anything illegal, and the lessons learned from the September 11, 2001 tragedy in the United States, the Philippine Customs department understandably had to be strict with their laws for the safety and security of everyone.

General Requirements

Every individual and baggage must be ready for a search any time. (Customs Law, Sections 2210 and 2212). Every article, when brought from other nations into the Philippines Exports Products, will have a corresponding tax and inspection upon importation, despite being exported from the country before, except if there are regulations that are stated in the Customs Code that will say otherwise (TCCP, Section 100).

Regulated and Prohibited Articles

The illegal importation of restricted articles (examples include ivory tusk products, rags and used clothes – R.A.4653, gambling paraphernalia or outfits, misbranded or adulterated drugs or food items, immoral or obscene articles, gun replicas, explosives or firearms and their components, and synthetic drugs or narcotics like cocaine or marijuana), or items that violate R.A. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Rights Code (examples include duplicated optical disc media such as VCDs or DVDs) and regulated products (examples include controlled precursors, substances, chemicals, and transceivers) regardless of number will violate the laws of Philippine Customs and will result in penalties, fines and/or criminal prosecutions.

For Philippines Exports Products that require export or import clearances, the individual or distribution company has to make sure that the articles are given permits from the proper government agency.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Why Will Global Trade Benefit Your Business?


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Global trade has been proven to have a lot of advantages, some of which can be observed more clearly compared to others. While you are in the process of international trade, the potential suppliers and clients in the world continue to grow and expand. Just for the sake of argument, think about boosting the amount of possible customers by a hundred percent every time you begin trading in a nation. Regardless of what happens during your business transactions, this practice will most likely be easier then attempting to grow your market niche in your own home town.

The concept that an international trading company only depends on a single market and drives all of its funds to one currency has proven to be a dangerous business strategy. There are numerous instances in history that solidify this, such as the problems in the Middle East that were caused by unrest and earthquakes, and other financial meltdowns. All of these unprecedented worldwide disasters have affected numerous markets. The thing is that your regional market may vanish or contract, but your industry can possibly be salvaged by its business transactions in other countries. Global trade can benefit your business by allowing you to reap better margins aside from noticing a boost in sales.

Speaking of working with firms from other nations, your consumers and you will want to perform your business transactions in the most effective and safest methods possible. A major benefit of worldwide trade is that payers who live overseas normally pay immediately. This lowers payment risk and could possibly help with your capital.

The capacity to have an edge over another international trading company is a vital component of business. This task is even made easier whenever there are not as many competitors. By making the service or product accessible to international buyers, you immediately form another failsafe for the industry by boosting the chance of standing out.

Monday, September 9, 2013

American Food Distribution: What Is Next?

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Based on statistical data that was taken from a New York Times article, the citizens of the United States would eat 31% more foods that are processed compared to people from other countries. One factor that contributes to this is the system that food dispersal chains use. The typical food product would be transported at around 5,000 miles prior to reaching the consumers. Since this is the case, the food is packaged and prepared for long distance shipping.

The present trends which the wholesale food distributors see would give the impression that the system of food distribution over long distances is designed to be delayed. Heightened consumer demand for organic food that is produced regionally, combined with a rekindled interest in staying in urban cores and increasing prices of gas, accumulatively suggest that American food dispersal networks will eventually have to evolve to cater to these and other changing economic and lifestyle trends.

Consumers in the United States Want Fresher Food

A core driver behind the possible redesigning of the food distribution chains is shifting customer preferences. The past few years have witnessed an upward spike in the demand for organic food that is fresh. The expansion of the organics industry in America has provided some information:

-    Since 1990, the organics market of America has earned so much revenue. Their food dispersal teams have reported a jump from a billion dollars to $26.7 billion. This amazing expansion is amplified by what the Whole Foods Market earns, which had a 35% increase in profit from the period between 2007 and 2001. All of this in spite of a lowered economy.

When all of this information is put together, they give a sign that the wholesale food distributors should adapt a system that caters to the manufacturers of local organic food. As an example, the markets in Europe support this initiative by assisting the farmers markets and the local farmers as well.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

The Weak Spot of Agri-Manufacturing in the Philippines

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Manufacturing is defined as the method of transforming components or raw material into commodities that meet the expectations of the consumer. According to the leading knowledge base known as the Food and Agriculture Organization (an entity that was formed by the United Nations), the industry of agro-processing is a subset of production that prepares intermediated items and raw materials from fisheries, forestry, and of course, agriculture.

A major aspect of agricultural manufacturing goes through a kind of conversion between food manufacturers in the Philippines, final use and harvesting. The upstream businesses are focusing on the primary processing of agricultural goods. Common examples include fish canning, vegetable cutting or grading, coconut oil milling, and sugar or rice milling. On the other hand, the downstream businesses undergo further production operations on intermediate items that came from agricultural materials. The usual examples include candy manufacturing, bread making, feed milling, and coconut oil refining.

How big is Philippine agri-food production? A lot of provinces have at least one rice mill ready for use. Coconut oil mills can be found in many locales in Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, and Calabarzon. Sugar mills exist in South, Central and North Mindanao, East, West and Central Visayas, Calabarzon, Central Luzon, and Cagayan Valley. SocSarGen, North Mindanao, Davao, Western and Central Visayas, and Caraga have fruit processing plants. The country has meat processing plants and feed mills in many locales, and there are bakeries in all of the 1,600 cities.

The sectors of fishery and agriculture supply provide a lot of raw material for production in the Philippines, except for those industries with imported supplies like feed milling, meat processing and flour milling. Because fisheries and agriculture make use of minimal raw materials for foundation, the performance of the food manufacturers in the Philippines have been affected, together with the rest of the industries that produce agri-food. According to affiliate sources and statistics, cocoa processing, coffee processing, fruit processing, natural rubber, sugar milling, and coconut products are operating and utilizing at a low capacity.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Improving CPG Brand Awareness via Premium Searches


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John Doe was just looking for suggestions to a great vacation destination, but he ended up with 117,000 search results on Google. Like most internet users, he had difficulty choosing what link to click. He basically got lost in a jungle of search results. The thing is that such instances of information overload can actually provide smart CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) marketers with a window of opportunity.

In this current life on the fast lane, brand awareness will reign supreme. This batch of packaged consumer goods can be the present popular objects, but if the consumers do not know that they exist, or are not aware of what the products offer, they will not make a purchase. Because this is the case, the CPG marketers must think of revolutionary and new methods to facilitate the connection between the brands and the consumers. Aside from this, they must perform this operation in a manner that takes advantage of their available assets. The good news is that integrating notable awards, seasonality and customer reviews into premium search ad copy will assist marketers with their tasks.

Since the consumers are more likely updated with current trends (thanks to the evolution and affordability of computers and the Internet) and are interested to know what other people have to say about a specific topic, they will have the urge to purchase goods that have been recommended by reputable individuals and are current. Simply put, consumers will look for validation prior to purchasing a product.

If the CPG marketers are able to integrate notable awards, seasonality and customer reviews into the premium search ad copies about packaged consumer goods, they will be able to capitalize on this mentality. Doing do allows them to build a potent message that will enhance the awareness of the brand and will resonate with the buyers.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

The Advantages of Global Trade


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The method in which we usually define local trade is actually no different from the definition of worldwide trade. The sole difference is that the instance of commerce will go over geographical hurdles. A nation will think about trading globally in the hopes that their GDP (Gross Domestic Product) will be given a quick boost.

Actually, worldwide commerce is not a new concept in the international trading Philippines environment. People have been trading beyond borders since the time that they discovered how to get to other islands by boat. Of course, with the innovations in various technologies and the different lifestyles of individuals, the methods that are used in commerce (including the varied forms of transport that are available nowadays) is very complex and more profitable compared to the past. Globalization, industrialization and the creation of a lot of multinational firms have forever altered the process in which countries do business with each other.

Global trade is also vital to the value of the lives of the people at present. Imagine if the options for the consumers are restricted to what they can produce regionally. If there are no services and goods that are provided by other nations, they would be living in a limited universe. This would contradict the standard of humankind needing to grow and expand.

The thing is that international commerce involves big amounts of money, because aside from the price of the service or item, the government of this country will normally impose time costs, tariffs and whatever expenses that are involved when transferring the merchandise into another nation where policies, culture, systems, and language are known as major roadblocks.

Do not be alarmed if the entities that benefit from these international trading Philippines activities are the ones who work in medium-sized corporations and startup businesses which have decent services or merchandise to offer. If they play their cards right, it will mean more business for them.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

The Effect of the Bioterrorism Act on Food Exports


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During the year 2002, the United States FDA (Food and Drug Administration, the food control group of the Department of Health and Human Services) enacted the Bioterrorism Act (Public Heath Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act) to take extra steps to guard the populace from an actual or threatened terrorist attack on American food supplies and other emergencies that are related to food. 

Philippine food exporters must be aware of the new regulations that the FDA has established to carry out this important act. To summarize, these new rules require food businesses to register their company with the FDA, and the FDA must be informed when there will be a new shipment of food that is imported from other countries. Advance notice of these shipments lets the FDA (supported by the CBP (Bureau of Customs and Border Protection)) effectively focus on their import inspections and protect the food supply of the country against public health crises or terrorist acts. Aside from these requirements, food suppliers and distributors that are exporting their goods to America have to submit relevant information about their conveyance and cargo to the Customs department prior to the merchandise arriving at the border. 

Food suppliers and distributors can register in the website of the FDA, or submit a CD-ROM or paper form with their registration information. More information on this topic and frequently asked questions can be found at: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/trade_programs/is_initiatives/bioterrorism/

For the guidance of the Philippine food exporters, shipments that arrive via road transportation must have their paperwork secured no less than 120 minutes prior to arriving at their destination. If the shipments will be transferred by train, the documents have to be approved by the FDA at least 240 minutes before the rail transport gets to its destination. If an airplane will deliver food, papers have to the issued and approved at least 240 minutes prior to arrival. Finally, food that is transported by water must have their documents secured at least 320 before the shipment arrives.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Understanding Trade between the Philippines and America


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The Philippines and the United States have been close trading partners for over a century. The TIFA (Trade and Investment Framework Agreement) was put into action in November 1989, where contracts like the Philippine minimum access obligations implementation of 1998, the intercepting illegal transportation of apparel and textiles contract of 2006, and the customs trade and administration protocol contract of 2010 were signed under.

Facts about the Philippines – U.S. Trade

Aside from being the traditional major foreign investor for the Philippines, America is also the country that trades the most commodities with this nation. In 2011, two-way services and goods that have been exchanged between a Philippine goods exporter and the United States summed up to $22 billion, while imports had a total of $12.1 billion, and exports made $9.9 billion. In that same year, the trade deficit for services and products that came from America was $2.2 billion and U.S. stocks of direct foreign investment in the “Pearl of the Orient” went above $5 billion.

In 2012, the Philippines ranked 33rd in the commodities export market for the U.S. Merchandise that was exported to the Philippines earned $8.1 billion, and this was 4.6% higher than the total of 2001, but lower than the result of 2000 (8.3%).

As far as importing products to America during 2012 is concerned, the Philippines ranked 35th in terms of supplying goods. The United States imported $2.3 billion worth of agricultural products, including branded items such as “Ding Dong Mixed Nuts”, “Growers Peanuts”, various fruit juices and preserved fruit products from “Del Monte”, and “Charantia Ampalaya Tea” from the Philippines.

Analysis on Investments

According to Philippine goods exporter data, the U.S. FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) stock in the Philippines during 2011 was worth $5.3 billion. This is a slight decrease from the year before (1.1%). Most of the U.S. FDI that gets documented belongs to the sector of manufacturing. On the other hand, the FDI of the Philippines to America during 2011 was worth $114 million. This was an increase of 10.7% from the past year.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Trends in Drink and Food Distribution, Processing and Manufacturing


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It is constant collaboration that connects those entities that are involved in a supply chain which makes it significant. Before the Philippine food and beverage industry came up with their rules and regulations to facilitate order and a controlled state, the farmers would simply produce a food item and then go to the towns to look for potential customers. They made use of this primitive strategy for a long time, hoping that their gamble would pay off and they would be lucky to get buyers. The buyers on the other hand were hoping that the prices of the food items would be fair and affordable. Nowadays, this method of commerce still applies, but depending on how long the supply chain is, further discussions or negotiations may occur before the merchandise is eventually delivered to the consumers.

The current focus of the Philippine consolidator is what the customer needs instead of what the supplier is willing to provide. In an international food chain, the farmers will not initially manufacture and then search for a market. What happens is that the people who control the supply lines will choose what they think the consumers require, or can be encouraged to want, and then push through with designing the chain of supplies which are needed to deliver the items.

The merchandise can be customized to cater to different consumer preferences from the start. The bottom line is that food delivery channels are powered by demand, to the point that the members of the food and beverage industry would be better off discussing consumer demand instead of the supplies.

So that it will be easier for the Philippine consolidator to closely study the international food chains, it is a good idea to make use of the evolving processes of international value chain studies. It examines the value put in a commodity as it goes through the supply chain.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

An Analysis of the Philippine Food Sector

 
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Conventional food service and retail formats, specifically dry and wet markets and neighborhood “sari-sari” (“sari” means variety) stores, are places where a lot of Filipino consumers frequent. Modern food service and retailing still needs to grow, but it is quickly making progress. These things, combined with the expanding and big divide between the poor and the rich, result in conflicting food ingestion trends in the Philippines.

Generally speaking, locally manufactured and/or made items and low to average priced products that are imported are consumed through the conventional markets. The medium to high priced merchandise that is imported by the distributor of foods from the Philippines is primarily located in supermarkets that are owned by foreigners or restaurants in five star hotels in the heart of capital cities like Manila.

Most of the food that is consumed in this country is mass produced by local corporations, These 11,000 (including companies like the RFM Corporation and San Miguel) manufacture food across all the main food sectors, like snack foods, dairy products, vegetables and fruits, processed meats (beef, pork and poultry), and noodles. These mass produced foods are paired with rice, meat, vegetables and fresh fruit to make up the staple diet for middle to low class Filipinos who number most in the various consumer segments of the nation.

But then, some of the middle class and high income earners want imported and non-traditional foods that are “ready-to-eat”. This results in the eventual modernization of the food retailing segment in the Philippines. The traditional retail segment is going through major transformations through the rapid growth of convenience stores, hypermarkets and supermarkets, aside from the quality of the products that are being offered.

The laws that restricted international retailers that did business in the country were taken away in the year 2000, so most of the current retailers are local. An example of a distributor of foods from the Philippines is Pricesmart, Rustans, Robinsons and the SM Hypermarkets or Supermarkets.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

How the Food and Beverage Industry Affects Employment


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There is no doubt that the business of selling drinks and food is a prime source of employment around the world. Because the international processing of beverages and food is considered a major manufacturing department, this line of work accounted for 4% of global GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and has more than 22 million workers happily employed.

Approximately more than 1 million individuals work as wholesale food distributors for any of the big multinational drink and food production firms. Based on statistics for the year 2002, Nestle hires about 25,000 employees worldwide (around the same figures as Unilever does). Other large employers include Kraft (an estimated 109,000), Tyson (an estimated 120,000), PepsiCo (an estimated 142,000), and Sara Lee (an estimated 154,000). The ten most lucrative fast food chains that are mostly owned by Americans hire around 5 million employees, with McDonald’s leading this statistical data with 1.5 million workers. Grocery enterprises like Carrefour, Tesco and Wal-Mart hire 2.25 million employees in more than 30 nations.

With the use of ISIC Code 15, Production of food items and drinks (United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification), employment data has been shown fluctuating over the last few years. Based on the data that was gathered from the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), employment in this department has gone up, particularly in their member nations. The number of workers in Canada between the years 2003 and 2005 is at 1.9%, Spain went up to 6.7%, and France increased by 7.3%.

At the other side of the coin, other nations seem to have dramatic losses in terms of the employment status of wholesale food distributors. In the United States, for example, the employment rate in 2005 went down to an estimated 1.64 million compared to the 1.68 million rate that they had two years ago.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The Travel Consolidator Demystified


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They are also called “Bucket shops”, but travel consolidators provide their own contribution to the success of tourism. These individuals basically buy airline tickets from the travel vendors at lowered prices and then sell them to the public or travel counselors. They can get these reduced prices (also called “bulk rates”) because of a special arrangement that they have with travel vendors. This arrangement that is forged between the consolidator and vendor identifies the minimal sales volume, responsibilities, obligations, and rates. Vendors will not negotiate with consolidators who are unable to sell an ample volume.

The Philippine consolidator is a smart person, since he or she can figure out other ways to get cabins, rooms or seats. They do this by buying unsold inventory at least a day or two before the scheduled departure. They know that the airlines do not expect their seats to be filled up half a year in advance, but the airlines might like to let go of unsold inventory at least 14 days prior to departure since there are less chances of these tickets selling through normal channels.

Consolidators can take care of a number of travel merchandise: space on tours, rental vehicles, cruise cabins, hotel rooms, and airline seats. But then, a lot of travel consolidators focus on air travel, so tourists should not expect other items aside from this. Most air consolidators only offer tickets to international destinations, although there are some firms that take care of flights that go around the United States.

The travel agencies themselves can be consolidators. The companies with high global air sales could get in touch with an airline or two to set up negotiations. Their topics will cover booking procedures, responsibilities, liabilities, sales quotas, and fare among other things. Since a huge number of these travel agencies are not able to promise the required sales volumes under these talks, then will talk to an existing Philippine consolidator to work on this rather than turning into consolidators themselves.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Facts about the Philippine Food and Beverage Market


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Because the Republic of the Philippines is modernizing their internal system of food retailing, this action is opening a window of opportunity for the exporters of F&B items to do business in the country. This comes at a good time, since this nation already has an established market for different dairy exports and a growing population in both rural and urban areas. The most common food and drink merchandise that Filipinos import and purchase include organic natural items that are based on seafood or vegetables, and wines and meat of top quality.

An Economics student who wants to work as a Philippine grocery exporter must know that the consumer spending of the nation is fueled by the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) department and OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers). In the year 2011, the BPO sector earned as much as US$11 billion, while the OFWs brought home around $23 billion in remittances. In that same year, hypermarkets and supermarkets made use of most of the dispersed $9.1 billion for their food packaging, and the smaller grocery retailers got to use the rest of the distributed funds.

Going back a year, the overall retail sales of the groceries reached $32 billion since the market was 67% taken over by the different grocery retailers. Tiny independent stores and “Sari-sari” stores (“sari” means variety, so these types of establishments are the same as convenience stores) are still the biggest grocery chains as far as overall sales are concerned. Buying grocery items increased in high and middle income customers who are located in urban areas, and even if the retail sales of supermarket items went up 24% during the years of 2005-2010, the hypermarket reaped the most benefits with a 33% growth factor.

Thanks to the efforts of a Philippine grocery exporter, independent food service chains that operated in 2010 dominated close to 80% of the market, and they raked in a total of $8.2 million. On the other hand, the traditional convenience stores are setting up more branches to cover a wider range and sell more imported items of top quality.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Introducing the Retail Distributor


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What do these people do? Retail distributors function as the middle men between the manufacturers and the consumers. When a company creates a product, it normally does not directly sell the merchandise to the end user. What happens is that the item is distributed in big amounts to a retail distributor and then it is the responsibility of this individual to sell these commodities via a retail shop.

Food Distributors from Philippines Supplier talk about the corporations or people who generate or put together a particular item. Most manufacturing occurs in nations where labor costs are low, particularly the Philippines or China. The merchandise is then exported to other locations that also sell them.

Because of this business practice, the firms that generate the products – whether it is locally where the commodities will chiefly be sold or offshore – will form a chain of retail distributors who will take care of selling the items to the buyers. Manufacturers could possess an agreement of exclusive distribution where it only lets a single organization sell its items. Although what usually happens is that the producers would have contracts with numerous retailer distributors.

When these distributors buy merchandise, they are buying them at wholesale rates. These costs are lower due to the volume of the commodity they purchase. In general, the bigger the distributor, the higher the discount they get for a specific product. As a result, the smaller distributors would have a difficult time getting their share of the merchandise because they are forced to pay more for it.

The food distributors from Philippines supplier get the products and then give them prices, although the producer might give a suggested price to help the distributors decide. On the other hand, distributors also have the power to give their own price values, and they are more likely to price the products higher than the amount that they purchased it for. This is how retail distributors earn profit. There are manufacturers that will set a limit on the price so that the dispersal of the products can be controlled.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Explaining the Principles of Fair Trade


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Fair Trade refers to a movement that advocates social policy, environmental security, and impartial standards that concern international labor that is related to the trading and manufacturing of commodities, specifically the ones that are imported to developed countries from developing nations. It tries to keep equilibrium between the wealthy and poor consumers which is enforced by traditional trade.

It is a development method that is designed to infuse the need for the partnership between the consumer and international trading Philippines to go past the simple relationship between seller and buyer in the system of trading. While Fair Trade keeps changing as the days pass, it recognizes the responsibilities and the needs of the consumer and manufacturer. It is also consumer-friendly since it is a mechanism which guarantees that services and products are of top quality and are priced reasonably.

Fair Trade gives power to workers and marginalized producers by helping them be economically independent. Their economic confidence is one of the significant factors that describe their current lifestyle. This concept is not just restricted to making sure that prices are reasonable. It considers environmental costs, social costs, and production costs.

Fair Trade is established through the following principles:

Ecological Integrity

Considering factors like pollution costs, energy consumption efficiency, and optimal utilization of raw materials help observe environmentally-sound ways of manufacturing.

Working Condition

Producers and workers have access to a healthy and safe working area.

Gender Equity

Apart from the compensation that women get for contributing to the manufacturing process, they get to be valued members of their respective communities and organizations. Women receive equal rights to decision-making, management, access to information, and participation in company activities.

Payment of a Reasonable Price

International trading Philippines and the producers would agree on a single fair price according to environmental costs, social costs, and manufacturing costs by participating in activities and discussion. Fair Trade also ensures the standard of equal pay in exchange for equal work by men and women. The traders give timely payments to the producers, and they offer financial support for expenses before production when possible.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

All about Grocery Shopping On the Internet


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Supermarket items vary from other merchandise that can be bought online, such as books or music. A lot of these items can spoil or rot, so they have to be delivered as quickly as possible for reasons of freshness. Aside from this, supermarket products are considered “replacement items”. This means that the same item is more or less being bought regularly. Lastly, groceries are known as “high-touch” merchandise. It means that the customers prefer to analyze the items before buying them for purposes of quality.

Purchasing grocery product items over the Internet is still a lucrative and growing distribution channel. It employs direct access ways to let buyers shop from the comfort and safety of home and have their bought items delivered to them as quickly as possible. This is where the computer turns into the main form of communication. This system offers to chance for the customer to select and compare supermarket items in relevant and unique ways. As a result, the buyers have accepted this type of environment as a method of saving time and making their lives simple.

For the consolidators, the ongoing process shopping for groceries over the Internet will give them new applications for their research. These applications will help them come up with ways to improve on the existing system so they can further streamline the process of browsing and purchasing, and have the quality goods delivered to the customers at an even faster rate.

These research tools that have emerged from the system of buying online grocery product items are the result of connecting attitudinal data based on surveys and longitudinal transactional data at the single household level.  This is good news for the consolidators since it will mean quick feedback from the consumer from a helpful sample, in a maintained environment. It also means that the consolidators have the opportunity to monitor the behavior of the consumers over time. Finally, these research tools can be a cost-effective and efficient form of analysis and data collection compared to the conventional survey research.

Understanding Promotional and Branded Pricing


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Apart from program sales, those food items that have a brand (also known as “Value-added products”) normally include extra processing to make them different from the fresh ones. Consumers who have a keen eye can spot these additional processes by how they taste or look. This is another way for a company to become distinct from other brands since the buyers will remember how good it tastes.

Of course, the manufacturers will usually own the brand, as well as invest a lot of energy and resources to increase its awareness. The producers would sometimes work together with a distributor of consumer packaged goods, a foodservice operator, or a major retailer so that their lines of work would result in a joint brand. The two core channels for the sales of merchandise that is branded are foodservice and retail, with their own pricing methods.

As an example, the prices for protein or meat items that have been processed and branded are less precarious compared to the fresh commodity merchandise such as fish, mainly because these food items do not spoil as easily. The extra processing that fresh meat undergoes into a branded item normally furthers its shelf life. Processing methods include cooking, injection, canning, and chemical preservation, and the manufacturers regularly make use of frozen meat since the appearance of the finished item may rely more on the processing compared to how fresh the input material is.

The moment that branded food items are sold to the retailers, these are treated the same way as CPGs (Consumer Packaged Goods). The producer will usually finalize an MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) and choose an everyday buyer shelf price that is usually lower than the MSRP. It is up to the retailer if he or she will publish the MSRP and integrate it into the price benchmarking campaign, along with the distributor of consumer packaged goods. The list price (which is wholesale) will be balanced with the MSRP so that the wholesalers and retailers will get a margin.


Monday, July 15, 2013

All about the Various Forms of International Trade Games


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The international trade game may be used to educate students about an economic theorem on global trade, to shed light on the economic choices that a nation has to make, or to demonstrate the work of a specific global organization. International trade games are designed to encourage insights on topics like the impact of globalization, the power of major firms to bargain, the stand of the farmers who are living in a third world country, and fair trade among other subjects of interest.

A consolidator in Philippines will be familiar with this type of game, as they may illustrate international trade in an individual commodity or industry like the grain or coffee trade so that the participants will be more familiar with the issues. Some games have also been developed to help pupils understand how the financial markets of the world work. There are games that are made for classroom activities with different players, and other games can be found on the Internet for those who are learning at home.

Global trading games may be set up as an effective and fun way to teach economics to primary or secondary school children, or for those people who are working for NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) or other forms of development. These activities may focus on learning about the factors involved in international trade, or they may highlight the problems or disadvantages that are caused by global trade. Supporters of a specific tactic like fair trade could invent a game to showcase the efficiency of their campaign and demonstrate its execution. Some firms can provide learning materials so that lecturers and teachers can formulate their own global trading games that will emphasize the pointers in their classes.

The consolidator in Philippines knows that these group activities work by allowing the students to experience what it is like to make economic choices, witness what happens when they make those decisions, and deal with the reactions from the rest of the class. These games are truly an excellent medium for presenting international trade theorems in action.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Discover What the Food System Is About


 
Image Courtesy: http://www.nourishlife.org
A food system is composed of every factor that is involved in the production of food (this refers to the manner that food is raised or grown; the procedures involved in slaughtering or harvesting food; and the process of preparing, packaging or packaging the food prior to selling it to the consumers) and the distribution of food (this refers to the mode of transferring the food and how or where the food is being sold to the buyers). This procedure can be split into two main forms: the regional (or local)/sustainable systems, and the singular industrial global system. The industrial food system covers a wider area compared to the other distribution channel.

The mainstream international food distributors begin their networking with big industrial farms that make use of factory farming (this process is used for animal food products) and monocropping (this process is used on vegetables and fruits). Products taken from these farms can be brought to a centralized building for further inspection, processing and/or packaging. After this is done, the food products are transferred globally or locally to finally get to where they need to go – normally a retail establishment or grocery store.

For more than half a millennium, the industry of food processing and farms has consolidated. This means that food is being carried over long distances, and the processing and production of the food is being handled by a few corporations. This may raise concerns about the security and safety of the food, and might close down some small processing buildings (canneries or slaughterhouses).

On the other hand, the international food distributors have fierce competition with the many sustainable food systems in the area. These regional or local systems distribute and produce food for a geographical area, instead of the international model. Food is raised or grown and harvested near the homes of the consumers, and then sold or transported in shorter distances. Overall, the regional/local food systems are connected with sustainable agriculture, compared to the industrial agriculture that the global system depends on.