BUSINESS MONDAY: No price wars, says Kooyman

DO not expect the newly opened Kooyman Megastore to start “price wars” with its local competitors.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kooyman Holding International BV, Herbert van der Woude, told the media, “Price is not the thing we will fight on. We offer relatively competitive prices, but I think the inspiring environment, breadth of the assortment, knowledgeable employees and additional services like mixing paint, transporting, maintenance and repair of power tools, that is more where we focus on than being a price fighter.”

However, if price wars do start, he noted that Kooyman will respond.

“We will never avoid a price war when it sets in, but we won’t be the first to start a price war,” he assured.

He also insisted the “one-stop shop” hardware and building supplies store and drive-thru, which occupy 165,000 square feet in Kendal Hill, Christ Church, was not seeking to put smaller local businesses out of work.

“There is going to be pressure on the whole sector to lift up its level of assortment, pricing, service, et cetera. Other markets where we have seen the same effect is that none of them go out of business; it is just that the market, as a total, will grow. Where you have more supply in a different way, the demand will go up.

“So, in the end, the economy, the consumer and the contractor will benefit from that. But we are certainly, absolutely not looking to put any competitor out of business. There is always room for different concepts,” he said.

The US$40 million investment is the first time the company has developed a store outside of the Dutch Caribbean, and in highlighting the reasons behind Barbados being chosen, van der Woude said this was due to its population and level of infrastructural development.

“Looking at Barbados it has a very well-developed judicial system, it has anti-money laundering laws and unfair competition laws, it has a high standard on the transparency international list of non-corruptive nations. So those all together for us were very important factors,” he said.