SAMOA – Concerns from members of the business community about the influx of Asian-owned companies taking over the retail sector are not being lost on Samoa’s government.

Samoa’s Minister for Commerce, Industry and Labour, Lautafi Fio Purcell told the Samoa Observer it is “quite obvious” that local retailers are disadvantaged in the competition they face from foreign companies with bigger financial backing.

“I feel for those local business people because it’s quite obvious,” Lautafi said. “It doesn’t take long for a Chinese shop to come in then local business goes out.

“I’ll be meeting with the commerce sector to ensure there is a level playing field for our people. The Chinese or Asians come with the philosophy to sell at the lowest price, and sell a lot of items, so they make up for that profit margin.

“They are aggressive. They sell quite a lot and that is their philosophy. It always about looking for the next customer to come in and they work for 24 hours.”

The minister said local businesses don’t operate on that model. They have set times and the latest they will open is 8pm.

“But there has got to be a balancing act somewhere,” he said.

“I’m seriously looking into the issue. The government wants to attract foreign investors to provide services and employment but at the same time we don’t want to develop an environment where local business or entrepreneurs just cannot compete.”

The minister said he was honest enough to say he does not have the answers right now.

From observation, Lautafi described Asian retailers as “ruthless” in business.

“I was reading the paper about this and was just thinking of our meeting with the Price Control division. I’m going to throw them a challenge to come up with a suggestion on ways that we can continue to promote people into investing but not at the expense of our people who also want to run their businesses.”

Lautafi believes that the local shops can never compete with the foreign businesses because of their financial backing.

“One thing I’m very sure about is, the finance backing of our people is not much,” he said.

“But I don’t know about the Asians, whether there are bigger companies behind them and that is why I have asked the ministry to ensure they scrutinise their permits and stick to what’s in it.”

“Our people can’t compete with those bigger shops,” he said.

“An example is a shop in Savai’i that used to be run by a Samoan. It was never packed, hardly any customers.

“The next time I went to Salelologa I saw that a lot of people going in and out of that shop and inside was a totally different person running it.”

According to Lautafi it was an Asian that was then running the shop and they were enthusiastic to sell things.

“They are in your face suggesting things you should buy,” he said. “They are business orientated people. They make sure you will not go out of the shop without buying something and its part of their business ethics that draws people to their shops.

“That is the philosophy that has not clicked with our people. As opposed to our shops, you go inside and they look at you as if they don’t want you there. “

So what is your advice to local business people? he was asked.

“This is the modern world,” said Lautafi. “We need to look at ways we can improve our service, presentation and make people feel welcome to the shops.”

Lautafi added that the Asians are “gifted business people” and they have been “doing this for thousands of years”.

“But our people are still learning to grow,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that our people should be disadvantaged because personally I still want to see more of our businesses up there.”

The issue was brought out in the open last week by a Samoan shop owner, Nu’uausala Sionaia, who told the Samoa Observer he believes there is coming a time when people like him will be forced to sell crops on the side of the road while foreigners run the retail industry in Samoa.

“I’ve decided to speak up because they are starting to move out to the villages, taking over the small shops and the small businesses that people like us run. Soon we will be out of business,” he said.

“I am more disappointed about the attitude of the government,” he said. “They are the ones who opened the door to these foreigners to run businesses here.”

Nu’uausala said he is concerned about the future of Samoa: “This is not good for us local people because if this continues then where are we going to go? How are we going to survive, feed our families.”

Nu’uausala also rubbished claims that these businesses provide employment.

“They bring their own people, their own workers,” he said. “Many of them come out at night.”

He said the government is encouraging foreign investment in the name of competition and development but Samoans simply do not have the monetary resources to compete.

Nu’uausala said he is merely raising an issue many people like him are talking about.

“I urge our people to speak up and express their concerns. This is our country, we need to look after it.” - Samoa Observer