ATLANTA — The Miami International Merchandise Mart is looking south to emphasize the international part of its name.
The facility is targeting Latin American buyers with a beefed-up marketing campaign that includes direct mail, new advertising vehicles and travel incentives.
Currently, 25 percent of buyers turning up for the Miami Mart’s trade shows are from other countries, primarily in the Caribbean, and in Latin and South America. The percentage is greater for shoppers between markets.
The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that businesses operating within the Mart represent $60 million of the approximately $16 billion worth of commodities that were exported through Miami in 1993.
“Miami has become the northernmost city in South America,” said Michael Saks, executive vice president of the Mart, in a telephone interview. “With the potential for free trade extending to South America, that trend can only become stronger.”
Through consultation with the Beacon Council, a Miami economic development group, the Mart has hired an international public relations firm to further develop its Latin American campaign.
For 1994, the Mart will spend in excess of $100,000, which represents one-third of its total marketing budget, to attract international business. Four thousand new Latin American retailers have been added to a direct mail list, which will be sent out, for the first time, in Spanish.
“In addition to numbers, we’re trying to target quality stores, those with good credit ratings,” said Saks, who added that Latin American buying services and distributors have made up a growing segment of those shopping the mart.
Possible new advertising media being considered include in-flight magazines, special newspaper sections on Florida travel, and wholesale buying magazines. The Mart will run a 20-page advertorial in wholesale trade magazines such as Comprar, a Miami-based publication with a circulation of 100,000 throughout Latin America.
In addition to discount packages at the Radisson, the on-site hotel, the Mart will subsidize airfares for key stores, and offer discount packages for local tourist attractions.
Longtime tenants report a sharp increase in out-of-country business in recent years. Ken Eskin, president of Miss Alyssa Sales, a multiline better sales firm, has seen business with South American and the Caribbean grow to 30 percent of his total volume.
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“Business has been wonderful, and it should continue, especially if CBI parity happens,” said Eskin. “In the past two years the Mart has made a giant effort to get the Latin American buyer, and that has helped us tremendously.”
Saks said the Mart could play a role in Miami’s 807 manufacturing programs in the future.
“If demand grows over a period of time for a facility, we could offer a permanent 807 display area, or become a meeting place on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
The Mart is facing a challenge from the Florida International Trade Mart, a new $40 million facility planned for nearby Fort Lauderdale. Groundbreaking for the new building is set for this summer; the opening is slated for January 1996. According to Rick Lalla, vice president, trade center development for Trammell Crow International, the Dallas-based developer of the project, 42 percent of the new space has been reserved with letters of interest and deposits, including those from a “large number” of Miami Mart tenants. Miami Mart management declines to discuss this potential competition.
They do note that the Miami Mart is currently 90 percent leased. Of all categories represented at the mart, including gifts, men’s, children’s, accessories and shoes, better women’s apparel has been the most difficult to build.
“It’s a shrinking industry,” he said. “People aren’t buying as many expensive clothes.”
To try to increase its representation of better price tenants, the Mart began a program in October with special incentives for targeted manufacturers. About 12 firms took up the Mart’s offer to show on a temporary basis during October, including Calvin Klein CK jeans and sportswear, Silk Club and Suitables. The program will continue during the August and October markets.