Island Hopping: Online Marketing to Caribbean Markets like Barbados, Guyana

Trini businesses have been eyeing the Caribbean market for years; venturing into the region would be the logical next step after their online stores conquer the T&T market. However, I’ve never seen this happen— conquering the T&T market— so no ventures have been made into the Caribbean. That no one has conquered the T&T market yet is not for lack of trying; it’s due to the lack of understanding, but that’s a separate topic.

Caribbean markets are not large to conquer. Firstly, populations are small, and so the size of the online market, and secondly, their online markets are not as developed as ours. Not that that ours are that developed anyway, we’re just relatively more developed in Trinidad & Tobago.

The Guyana gold rush has allowed for Trini businesses to establish a physical presence. Many clients have already set up shop in our booming southern neighbor, like Kamri Glass and Merchant Marine. Such physical presence might be a better jumping-off point to build an online presence in a Caribbean country in my view.

I believe they are; the Caribbean remains largely under-developed by international standards, so growth is inevitable. Compared with other similar sized nations around the world, most are still classified as third world, Trinidad & Tobago included. The term ‘Third World’ has fallen out of favor for political correctness mind you, you know, to not hurt our ‘feewings’. Political correctness has also fallen out of favor in this brave new world of ‘wokeness’, so it may be we are mis-identifying the Caribbean as third world. Our politicians are quick to call out negative references, that we’re so developed, it takes five minutes of rain and all of T&T floods instantly, but, hey, that happens ‘ all over the worl ‘. That’s why we had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a bus shed which identifies as a ‘Transport Hub’. We were woke before it became fashionable.

Across the globe (or Flat Earth if that’s your thing), small islands and countries, similar in size to those in the Caribbean, have many times the population and development. Like Singapore, a comparison Trini politicians love to hate, is only 283.5 square miles— similar to St Lucia (238 sq mi) and Dominica (290 sq mi).

But Singapore is industrialized and on the other side of the world; let’s look closer to our hemisphere, like New York’s island of Manhattan, with a land area of only 22 sq mi, but a population of 1.7M, it’s beyond compare. But that’s still apples to oranges, we have to compare to our bananas in our Banana Republics; look at The Bahamas, with a population of 400K, also relies on tourism but is one of the richest countries in the Americas.

It’s not an accident, it shows what’s possible with good leadership and actual use of brains, a rare commodity in our region of postage stamp sized nations. But I don’t want to get political here; we all know there’s much more that the Caribbean can be, but unfortunately, may never be in our lifetime, but hopefully in our children’s.

The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce has in fact ranked Barbados as one of the top 3 markets of export interest for local companies engaged in the goods and services sectors, and actually leading a trade mission in mid October 2023, so that’s telling right there. The second I would assume is Guyana, and I don’t know the third.

I was fortunate to make a vacation trip to Barbados with my family around end of July 2023, staying in area called St. Lawrence Gap in Christ Church. In between, I did my own reconnaissance to assess the online market for both myself and clients (obviously not scientific), It was my third visit to Barbados, the first was when I was really young, maybe 12 years old; second was in my mid-twenties when I got married.

My impression of Barbados is overall positive and thumbs up (like I said, not scientific, lol), and of course I have to compare with Trinidad & Tobago. While the main highway is well kept and maintained (and replete with roundabouts!), I was very surprised at the condition of the main coastal road (Worthing Main Road), which ran along the main hotel row, all the way to Bridgetown— in a word terrible; very surprising. it reminded me of all those bad streets in Port of Spain. While there were many differences, there were too many similarities.

In the hotel we stayed (Rostrevor Hotel), I saw a box of matches with ‘Made in Trinidad’ and asked if we brought matches from home (we didn’t of course), which was the first sign of our Trini footprint in Barbados. On our very first outing to find a grocery and get some BDS $, lo and behold we had to find a Massy grocery with an FCB ATM! Most grocery items were imported and lots of T&T products. We resolved to find a local Bajan grocery next outing, but it too was the same, many Trini products.

I couldn’t get over the many Trini companies I saw, a lot from the McAL conglomerate, and from what a couple of Bajan businessmen told me, they jokingly refer to Barbados as the Republic of Barbados and Trinidad… so entrenched we are.

From my impressions and discussions with born and bred Bajan professionals and business people, the online market is not that developed. The online market is small, as too the island itself, Barbados is 167 sq mi, (Tobago is 120 sq mi)— you can easily traverse the island in a day. But compare populations… Barbados 260K and Tobago only 60K. Trinidad’s Borough of Chaguanas is 80K for reference.

From my queries, younger Bajans are not that perturbed about our Trini infiltration; it’s mostly the older generation. There is no ‘boycott’ of Trini businesses or brands. I would say that the opportunities that our companies have been taking advantage of, exist just the same for new entrants. We are of course, a member of Caricom, and inter-Caribbean business is encouraged, hence the trade missions.

Also per my research, ducks in Bayja walk and talk just like Trini ducks; Bajans don’t operate by different set of online rules. It’s my assumption, and I’ll go out on a limb here, that human beings as a group, generally respond to the same stimuli and can be predictive. So be it Barbados or any other Caribbean island, it’s fair to say that ‘standard’ online marketing practices will apply… no need to reinvent the wheel.

Gone are the days when Trinis sneered at Guyana and the influx of Guyanese to our country looking for a better life. Now Trinidad & Tobago has fallen of its pedestal of fortune and glory and well on track to Fourth World status while Guyana is now the place to be. With its miniscule population (800K) in relation to its massive size (83,000 sq mi), rich in natural resources including oil, the entire world is beating a path to their door.

Kamri Glass- Guyana

Not to get left behind, Trini businesses have joined with the world, hoping that Guyana forgives and forgets. It’s not for me to say that Guyana has a case or if we are being welcomed with open arms; I assume Guyana is looking out for Guyana over all else. Just like T&T looks out for T&T… and you see how that’s been working out.

While Trini business in Barbados has been ongoing for years, Trini business in Guyana is a new phenomena, but not that Trini’s were slow to notice the opportunity. If you recall Derek Chin’s Movie Towne opened in Georgetown in 2019, and till now, Guyana has always been seen as open for business.

There are a few small but key islands like St Lucia, Grenada etc. Longtime Forward Multimedia client TnT Bamboo Online (used auto parts) has a fully developed business in St Kitts, St. Vincent and Grenada for over a decade, which started out from physical visits and promoting the ‘ole fashion’ way— pounding the pavement, flyers in hand.

Eventually populations and economies will grow and develop. One simply has to look at how international companies and brands gain in foothold in their country, it’s not something new. Companies have been importing and establishing unknown and obscure brands with success forever. Take for example, Moo Milk, previously unheard of in Trinidad & Tobago, now ubiquitous on grocery shelves and challenging Nestle’s decades established Sta Fresh milk very hard. There is absolutely no question that Nestle Trinidad has absolutely taken a big hit and reeling.

I see the Caribbean online market as right for E-Commerce but not ripe… yet. It all boils down to the your short and long term strategy. Obviously you want to target all, but conventional wisdom dictates that you be prudent and cherry-pick the low hanging fruit like Guyana and Barbados.

Guyana will be more receptive given that their long drought in development is finally over; all sectors will be on an accelerated path. Barbados would have the more relatively developed market, in a position to accelerate. Alternatively you may be probably a badass laser-focused businessman (or woman) who spits in the face of conventional wisdom… so power to you.

The same platforms are available for all Caribbean countries: WordPress/Woo Commerce, Shopify and major international banks we know are in the region, like Scotiabank, RBC Royal Bank; and there are regional branded banks like CIBC (CIBC FirstCaribbean), and our local banks like Republic Bank and First Citizens Bank that would all offer payment gateways.

On the web design side, it’s fair to assume all islands have their local top web companies who they might prefer over outsiders. Like Trinidad & Tobago, everyone has the big fishes in their own small ponds. While Forward Multimedia hasn’t made any attempt (yet) to expand into Caribbean markets, we have consulted on multiple projects with web designers from the islands.

Bermuda based payment gateway First Atlantic Commerce (FAC) has had their footprint on Caribbean sands long before it was fashionable. So online payment has been available for years.

Wherever there is a Scotiabank, their payment gateway will also be available.

I don’t see the need for integrated delivery like these except if shipping orders outside the island. The islands are all small geographically, and a delivery vehicle or local courier should suffice. I don’t see this as a critical element, but still, such integrations are available and possible.

When clients express their intentions of future Caribbean online expansion, they usually have in mind shipping from Trinidad to the islands. Also usually, with DHL or FedEx, whichever has better rates. But in addition to shipping rates, there are also customs and duties to consider, and these are real factors. For example, my aforementioned client TnT Bamboo Online, when I asked why he hadn’t listed Barbados as a key market that he made inroads, he said the customs charges were too prohibitive so the market didn’t pan out.

Logistics will have to be evaluated to determine the best mode of distribution; there will be many factors to consider. The easiest method would be to ship out of Trinidad using say, DHL; but then the shipping cost would factor in. It might be best to set up your own warehouse, depending on your scale, or partner with a local business or distributor. You’ll have to evaluate the local market and be prepared to be part of its development, just as we’re doing in T&T. This means growth will be slow; your strategy would be to put yourself in position and establish your presence.

I don’t see you can do so alone; even if you make trips into the countries, you’ll need to partner with locals who have a better understanding of their market and better insights on how to target and reach.

From what I’m seeing in the industry and the market, Caribbean online, though still developing, will take hold just as it did here in T&T, and continue to grow, so Trini companies should definitely pursue an online Caribbean strategy, even it means developing an offline strategy first. There is no online market to capitalize on, it’s to be ready for when it gets there, and it will get there…. eventually.

Caribbean growth will remain slow if it continues doing business as usual; growth is stagnant from the lack of vision and poor leadership across the Caribbean, including Trinidad & Tobago, but nothing lasts forever. For all we know, there’s a next pandemic or catastrophic world event lurking around the corner, and to be forewarned, is to be forearmed… again; but humans never learn.