Western hub to lift HD Hopwood sales
Published:Friday | June 18, 2010 | 12:00 AM
With an eye on improving what it said was a flat sales performance over the past two years, large distributor HD Hopwood Limited has spent more that J$8 million to set up a new warehouse in Montego Bay, targeting the scores of smaller mom-and-pop shops it has been unable to effectively service from its Kingston base.
The management of the 82-year-old company declined to say precisely what level of business it did last year, but said sales did not surpass the previous year's figures.
The rented 1,700 square feet warehouse is located at the Freeport Commercial Centre in that city.
"We expect sales in the region to grow fairly rapidly," said Sethurman Kumaraswamy, the chief financial officer of the wholly-owned Neal and Massy group subsidiary.
He added that while the company was also affected by higher inflation, the firm responded by improving efficiencies to cut costs even as it deepened its distribution network.
"We have always had an islandwide distribution, but now we want to better service the wholesale trade, smaller retailers and mom-and-pop shops in the western part of the island, through our van sales distribution," said Kumaraswamy.
As it makes its westward push, HD Hopwood has a team of six in place, but is also on the hunt for a sales supervisor to be put in charge of its consumer division and manage a team of representatives and merchandisers in the western region comprised of St Ann, St James, Trelawny, Hanover and Westmoreland.
The company said it would focus on Montego Bay initially.
National distribution manager, Carole Chambers, said the new warehouse would provide the company with better visibility and increased access in the markets in the west of the country.
"We recognise that a lot of businesses are informal and are, in fact, too small for our route salesmen to visit," said Chambers.
She noted that these small operations represented valuable business for the company.
"They want less than a whole case of products, so we will sell them in threes and sixes," the distribution manager said.
In addition to servicing its customers in the region utilising its fleet of vehicles, the new Montego Freeport facility is also expected to attract walk-in trade from vendors.
HD Hopwood sells a range of food and pharmaceutical brands including Heinz, Quaker, Jergens, the Lanhar line of cleaning products and Cadbury chocolate. Its list of 380 health- and beauty-care, nutritional, confectionery and household products includes products manufactured in Jamaica as well as imported goods.
HD Hopwood, a major manufacturing concern with its own laboratory, also develops creams, cosmetics and colognes for local and export sale, and offers packaging for glass, plastic bottles, plastic tubes, aerosol containers and sachets.
The company which makes approximately 28 consumer products, 24 of which are produced under trade licence agreements, recently launched a new line of hand gels and sanitisers under the Pharmatex brand. Plans are in the works for expanding the manu-facturing of its own branded products and offering contract manufacturing arrangements to other companies.
According to the company's website, pharmaceutical products accounts for 50 per cent of the firm's overall sales. Its list includes about 900 prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs.
HP Hopwood represents some 40 multination corporations with brands including Listerine, Quaker, Cadbury, Kimberly Clark, Huggies, Proline, Dole & Seven Seas. Its existing markets include wholesalers, hotels, the military, supermarkets, small grocery shops, gifts shops, pharmacies and dispensing doctors.
The company, started in Kingston in 1928, was acquired by Neal and Massy in September 2001. It distributes to some 14 Caribbean markets.