The future survival of fresh produce businesses will rely on the service levels they provide, not innovation, says Kenyan exporter AAA Growers’ Ariff Shamji.
Shamji told FPJ that, from what he had seen at the trade fair, he believed that service levels are going to be key to future business as every company competes to offer the best value for money continuously and cut costs internally.
“Last year, innovation was the main trend affecting the industry, then it was the environment and now it is maintaining service levels. We are all doing everything we can do to keep the cost down, so it is the only thing left to differentiate the suppliers from one another,” said Shamji.
“We have increase production efficiency. We are planting on less land, but producing more and have made management structures very lean just to survive. If we do not focus on service levels, we are going to have a very rough ride.”
Shamji revealed that, although the UK market was still an important one to AAA Growers, the company will be looking towards mainline Europe for business. “Most Kenyan exports rely on the UK market, so you can imagine what the exchange rate has done to the industry. There has been a lot of price pressure and retailers have been asking for a reduction in price. No matter how you reduce your costs internally, it is still expensive to send to the UK. But the UK will remain an important market and I believe an equilibrium will soon be reached.”
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