The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo Senior Business Reporter
LOCAL manufacturers are calling on retailers to embrace local products by allocating exclusive shelves in shops that will be selling locally produced products as a way of promoting the Buy Zimbabwe campaign.Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Matabeleland chapter president, Mr Busisa Moyo, said most merchants were in the habit of preserving priority spots in their outlets to foreign products at the expense of locally produced goods.
He said this had a negative impact on local products sales volumes.
“We have a challenge with most of our retailers with regards to the share of shelves. Most prime spots at their outlets are given to foreign products. We need to realise that by putting local products in front the rate of sale increases by 20 to 30 percent. So we want the prominent areas to be preserved for local products,” Mr Moyo said.
He said consumers should also take note that locally produced goods were of high quality, durable and had a longer shelf life as compared to foreign ones.
However, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe executive director, Mrs Rosemary Siyachitema, said there was still a need for local manufacturers to improve on quality and branding of their products in order for them to wade off stiff competition from imports.
“Sometimes the manufacturers don’t produce goods that are up to the required standard. This makes it difficult for the retailers to provide strategic shelving for them. Since they (retailers) are there to make business they also have issues to consider,” she said.
The issue of promoting the purchase of local products is seen as one of the initiatives towards reviving the country’s manufacturing sector which has over the years experienced a decline due to a number of challenges chief among them lack of working capital to replace ageing equipment.
The few manufacturers that are still in business are then forced to produce at high cost resulting in the products being priced higher than imported goods.
“The pricing issue is correct but it’s unfair to put the blame on our producers. South Africa and Botswana are using their own currencies and we are largely using the United States dollar and this attracts them because the rand has devalued by more than 40 percent against the US dollar.
“It also has to be noted that in the case of South African companies their government offers export incentives. So naturally those products land cheaper at the counter. Some of the companies are even ridiculously reducing prices to push our companies out of business,” said Buy Zimbabwe’s business development executive Mr Alois Burutsa.
