Business View Caribbean - October 2016 69
Divico’s products are all imported – 60 percent come
from the USA and 40 percent from Europe. The com-
pany’s distribution network extends to more than 900
clients in St. Maarten, French St. Martin, St. Barts, An-
guilla, Saba, St. Eustatius, Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis,
Antigua, and Tortola. “A typical customer can range
from a large supermarket, a large club store, a small
convenience store, a gas station, a hotel, a restaurant,
a bar, a business. We sell to auto parts stores; we sell
to mechanics. We sell to everyone. We have a very,
very large portfolio of products,” Khatnani says. That
portfolio includes: food and drink; candy, snacks, and
chocolate; health and personal care products; baby
and pet products; and household and outdoor prod-
ucts.
In addition to some small, local operators, Divico’s
main competition comes from Prime Distributors, the
largest wholesale, food distribution company in the
Caribbean. “They represent all the competing brands,”
says Khatnani. “So, for example, if we do Huggies dia-
pers, they do Pampers. Basically, the market is divided
between us two and many smaller players.”
While Divico can hold its own against Prime, Khatnani
says that competition also comes in the form of “par-
allel trading,” which exists when an importer finds a
cheaper price of a good on the world market and im-
ports that good instead of paying the generally higher
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Divico Distributors
WHAT:
A wholesale distribution company
WHERE:
Cole Bay, St. Maarten, N.A.
WEBSITE
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