São Paulo – Representatives of supermarkets in three Arab countries should be in Brazil in September for business meetings with suppliers from the country. They will be coming from Bahrain, Egypt and Qatar and should be among the businessmen already confirmed to participate in roundtables promoted by the Brazilian Supermarket Association (Abras) and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) during the 45th Abras Convention. The sector meeting should take place at the Royal Palm Plaza, in Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo state, from September 20th to 23rd.
The Abras superintendent, Tiaraju Pires, pointed out the good experience that the sector has already lived in business roundtables with the Arabs. According to him, at these meetings only contact is generally made, with deals being closed later. In last year’s edition, however, deals were closed on the spot and the importer from Bahrain was responsible for that. The 2010 roundtables, according to estimates, generated US$ 50 million in deals over the following twelve months. Expectations for this year are for expansion of at least 50%.
In total, the business roundtables should include 30 companies from 17 to 20 countries. Apart from the Arabs, there should also be retailers from Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Mozambique, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal and Venezuela. The roundtables take place from the 21st to the 22nd. The Brazilian suppliers are invited to participate after the payment of the inscription fee. The travels of the importers are sponsored by the Apex.
Apart from this meeting, called the Buyer Project, there will also be a Seller Project, in which international suppliers meet with Brazilian retailers. This option, according to Pires, is developed with assistance of government organisations from other countries and should include 15 foreign companies. In 2010, representatives from ten nations participated.
Despite the business roundtables, the main focus of the convention, however, is not business, but sector talks. Prominent speakers are brought to discuss topics chosen with sector leaders. This year, the main focus is technology. So much so, that there will be an exhibition with 20 companies in the area. The idea is to show the latest news and also what is coming in supermarket technology, from solutions for the cashier to business to business and automatic supply.
There should also be talks about the sector’s path ahead in Brazil, with a panorama of the global economy, the Brazilian economy and their effects on the Brazilian supermarket sector. This theme should be in the hands of the Abras leaders. Among the other speakers will be Andreas Weigend, a German specialist in social and mobile technology, do discuss how new social figures are influencing the purchase decision and people’s style of life, and Herb Sorensen, one of the main international specialists in consumer behaviour.
According to Pires, the Abras Convention is a closed event turned to presidents or commercial directors of the 230 main supermarkets in Brazil. It is Abras itself that invites the participants and is in charge of all logistics costs, including tickets and hotel stay, at no cost to the businessmen. The only suppliers authorised to participate are the sponsors. The suppliers enrolled to participate in the roundtables, for example, do not participate in the talks at the congress.
*Translated by Mark Ament
