Next year will be a challenging one for the sales of BICO products if recessionary conditions continue, says company chairman Edwin Thirlwell.
Noting that this year was “not normal” and Christmas sales were nothing like they were in previous years, Thirlwell told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that the company had to take proactive steps in order to keep sales volumes up and people employed.
He said, however, that sales for the holiday season had gone “quite well”.
“We are trying to meet the expectations of our customers by giving them deals on products to keep our volumes up. So it is by no means a ‘sit back and let it all happen’ moment for us . . . . Normally Christmas would take care of itself and people would be spending money like it is going out of fashion. But I think this is not a Christmas like that.
“Everything is price-sensitive, disposable income is limited and we have to do the best we can to keep our customers happy, which is what we are doing,” he said.
He said offering specials on products was one way of “getting people to spend money and keep the market moving”.
Thirlwell said BICO was already bracing for the coming year as Barbadians continued to cut back on their spending.
He said people usually spent a lot during the run-up to Christmas “but when they get to the end of January, there would be a little gap in there when there is no money”.
“I think next year will be challenging. I think the world economy is not going to recover. It was thought to recover by the end of 2011 and that has not happened. I don’t think it is going to happen by the end of 2012.
“In fact, the general consensus is that the world economy will take about five years [to recover].
“We are preparing. We are making all efforts to keep up sales and keep customers happy.
“We are trying to keep everyone employed because if the sales are down . . . . it may very well be that going into next year [we] ask people to work less hours so that we keep everyone in a job,” Thirlwell explained.