Poor product packaging derails SMEs

By MAILESI BANDA

THE stocking of products by chain stores is dependent on whether the products sale, Spar Zambia representative Renata Zambika has observed.

Ms Zambika said what usually contributed to a product selling is the quality of packaging, a trade secret that most small-scale producers had not fully implemented.

Ms. Zambika said chain stores were running a business in which the time a product stayed on the shelf was important, adding that stocking a product that did not sale was not good for the business.

Speaking during a panel discussion on championing business linkages for economic growth held in Lusaka last week as part of the commemoration of the manufactures week which run from November 6 to the 10, Ms Zambika advised local producers to be competitive in their packaging.

“The stocking of products in supermarkets in dependent on whether the product sales or not and this is mostly defendant on the packaging of products. As a super market we have faced a challenge of poor packaging from Small and Medium producers who mostly do not package their produce to entice the customer,” she said.

She noted that attractive packaging was important to attract sales especially in a super market setup.

She explained that a product that was not attractive to clients does not move is costly to the supermarket as it only takes shelf space which could be offered to other properly packaged products.

She said another challenge small-scale producers posed for super market was that once demand increased they failed to deliver or compromised on quality to meet the increase in demand.

“Most SMEs fail to cope up with pressure, once demand for their products increase while others fail to meet the huge volumes. Others compromise on quality to increase production and this costs them as they end up losing customers, “she added.

She further observed that delivering goods to all the super markets around the country was another challenge the SME sector faced as Spar did not have a central transport system.