LATAM: SIÑERIZ FREE SHOP


Siñeriz ‘agile’ in plans to tap customer base


Siñeriz Free Shop Director Gandhi Abdullah tells Jessica Mason how clever responses to trends in Uruguayan land border shopping has anchored the firm to do well in the future.


Above: Siñeriz has been shrewd in reacting to the changing climate of consumer confidence in LATAM to drive sales.


A


ccording to a World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Economic Impact 2017 Latin


America report, travel and tourism investment in the region totalled $42bn in 2016 and is predicted to rise by 4.3% per annum over the next 10 years to total $66.2bn in 2027. Likewise, travel and tourism’s


share of total national investment is forecast to rise to 6.3% in 2027 – up from 6.1% in 2017. The WTTC says the sector’s future is looking rather bright indeed. It adds that by 2027, international tourist arrivals are forecast to reach 78,244,000, generating expenditure of $82bn – an increase of 5.8% per annum.” In the case of Uruguay, the country’s GDP amounted to $52.2bn


“Now the Brazilians, Uruguayans and Argentinians who want to go from Brazil to Uruguay or from Uruguay to Brazil must go to Siñeriz to do immigration.”


Gandhi Abdullah, Director, Siñeriz Free Shop


64 TRBUSINESS


in 2016, analysis from Trading Economics indicates. While not quite reaching the


record highs of 2013 ($57.5bn), the economy is climbing back following a period of economic uncertainty. According to Siñeriz Free Shop


Director Gandhi Abdullah, 2017 was a ‘very good year’. “The regional political situation is


not so in focus and it automatically increased the confidence of the consumer,” he updates TRBusiness. Siñeriz operates border stores on


either side of the Brazil-Uruguay border on the road between Santana do Livramento and Rivera. The stores, now a commercial and tourism attraction, are marketed online across social media to broaden the horizons of travel retail’s appeal to consumers, The Sineriz Facebook site has


accrued a following of close to 80,000 people and garnered the interest of even more who have ‘liked’ the page [correct at the time of writing]. This illustrates traction among


its target demographic and in turn, exemplifies a high level of engagement. “The consumer has become more


confident to travel more, spend more and buy more non-basic products,” says Abdullah, explaining that the company is simply addressing “the on-going challenge of drawing tourists to the country”.


Restoring confidence Indeed, restoring confidence within the sector has been a necessary measure. Abdullah says Siñeriz has noticed what it calls the ‘big change’ – the point at which consumer confidence was restored. He says that despite the strength of the US dollar over the Brazilian real, sales and visitor numbers to its stores increased incrementally. Indeed, the tourism situation


within Uruguay has only just begun its upward climb. A country that covers 176,220sq km, it is intra- Uruguay travellers that are most attracted to buying items from its borders. Approximately 21.4% of Uruguay’s GDP is made up of export goods, while 20.2% of that comes from imported goods, according to World Bank data. This illustrates Uruguay’s desire to acquire items from other countries, coupled with a keen interest in selling local wares to tourists looking for something a little


MARCH 2018


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