Cuban retail store readies for new services

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 16 (ACN) One of the largest state-owned Cuba retail chain will adjust its operations to accommodate sales in hard currency of household appliances, electronics and car parts, following a set of measures announced by the Cuban government.

Iset Maritza Vázquez Brizuela, First Vice President of CIMEX Corporation, announced that sales will begin with an assortment of products of medium and high range, in addition to electric motorcycles, tires, accessories, motorcycle units and combustion engines.
We hope that as a gradual process this level of goods will be expanded to the extent of the possibilities of the development of marketing itself.
The new network is made up of 77 establishments, but in a first stage 13 have been planned, eight of them for electronic products and household appliances and five of them for automobiles. Twelve will be opened in the capital and one in Santiago de Cuba.
This network is an additional option to the one that currently exists, which has inventory levels that ensure sales, said Vazquez Brizuela.
She informed that the retail prices of the region were revised in order to make them competitive in Cuba, selected products are kept in Cuban convertible pesos (CUC), similar to those of the hard currency network (MLC) and for some low-end also achieved considerable price reductions.
She clarified that the sale in CUC of automotive accessories dedicated to road safety, the commercial guarantee applying what is established in the country and the terms established in the two trade networks are maintained.
The sale in MLC will be by debit cards, no cash, using Sales Points (POS) which are ready and work has been done to achieve good connectivity by data transmission which guarantees the marketing process.
She explained that the cards to be used are national and the international cards used in the country, in addition to a new product from Fincimex, the Aris card, which may be used throughout the network, but with the characteristic that deposits will only be made from abroad through international transfers.
The official stressed that communication channels are maintained that will allow the customer to have permanent and systematic feedback.