The Spanish Market
August 21, 2004
As many of you know, I spend almost six weeks of the summer in Spain.
Last year I gave you a link of a life webcam from Alicante, the beautiful spanish city just north of which we have our holiday house. I did that just for fun and curiosity, but to my great surprise that link was visited very often.
In case you've missed it and for those who are new, here's that link again:
Alicante Life Webcam
Today I will share some of my thoughts about the Spanish market. For better understanding I will first tell you about their way of life. Let's have some fun here.
Enjoy.
Case
Spanish way of life
During summer my family and I spend several weeks in Spain.We have a lovely house there that is very comfortable. It's situated in a little village north of Alicante. It's quiet there and if we want excitement or do some shopping we'll go to the village called El Campello or we drive to Alicante, 20 minutes from here.
Alicante is a beautiful place. Historically it's the bathing resort for people from Madrid. So, in summer, especially in August which is the holiday month for the Spanish, 80% of the tourists here are from Madrid and places between Madrid and Alicante.
I've been visiting the city at least twice a year (in spring and autumn) since the 1980's doing all kinds of business with my friend Salvador who was born here and still lives here. I will tell you more about him in another issue.
Doing business in Spain is remarkable. Let me try to explain.
People here like to talk a lot. They talk all day. Morning, afternoon, evening, always talking. They talk as easily to complete strangers (in Spanish) as they do with friends.
Probably while they like to talk so much, they speak very, very fast! The pace is killing. They swallow half of their sentences in order to speed up the pace.
Very difficult to follow.
The Spanish typically live outdoors. They visit coffeeshops, tapas bars (definitely my favorite), beaches and restaurants to talk to eachother and they don't hesitate to stop at the middle of a busy street or at traffic lights to exchange the latest news. Don't blow your horn there! Just be patient. It's their way of life.
My friend Salvador had an office in the center of the city. He equiped it with the best coffee machines he could find, importing first quality coffee directly from Columbia. His employees however prefered to go out and buy their coffee in the coffeeshops.
I've seen a cop leave his post at a busy crossing where the lights weren't working to get a coffee in the nearest shop where he ended in a vivid discussion with another visitor.
Once I had to set up some commercials for Valencia TV. I finally found the producer in the coffeeshop where we did our business.
On another occasion I had to visit someone in Barcelona. Salvador joined me there as an intermediate. They guy we had to meet greeted him as if he was an old friend. When I finally had the opportunity to ask Salvador if he had met him before, he said he didn't. It was a complete stranger to him.
And that's another strange thing about the Spanish. They hardly speak any foreign language, but they also don't even bother trying to involve you.
They can understand Portuguese and Italian, but English is a real problem. That is changing slowly now as the youth understands the importance of learning a foreign language, but that's definitely not the case with the older Spanish people.
Actually you can divide the Spanish as far as language is concerned in two categories:
- a small number of people understand the need to learn English as a way to communicate on international level; companies like supermarkets also beginning to understand, that Spain is full of international customers, so they translate their websites in English.
- a vast majority is convinced that foreigners just have to learn Spanish if they want some business (or anything else) in Spain!
(As an outsider I kind of like that, because the English speaking part of the worlds population thinks the same! And so do the French, although they realize, as do the Germans, that somehow they have to learn a foreign language.)
I once asked an official in the train station Atocha in Madrid where to find the train to Alicante. I had to ask the man three times to repeat what he said before I was able to understand it. And that was Castillian, the official Spanish version. They speak fast those Spanish!
Depending where you are in Spain, they also speak a dialect, like here in Alicante. I once visited a shoe factory with Salvador. We were invited to have lunch with the two owners. Believe me, I honestly tried to make myself clear and I begged them to speak slowly, but all I could do after only a few minutes was to enjoy the absolutely delicious gazpacho and paella.
People here enjoy every detail life brings. They are quite healthy thanks to their eating habits and the extensive use of super quality olive oil (less heart diseases).
They typically live outdoor and spend lots of time with their family. Kids are very important (they are spoiled), but they also take their grandparents with them to the beaches. Want to see grannies in bikini's? Visit Spain!
And I like that, because they take good care of all their relatives. Even the disabled are always welcome to join the family on a trip. Everyone will help them.
On many occasion, where I had to turn in early to catch the earliest morning flight back home, I paid my bill in the restaurant while complete families with kids and grandparents entered to have a late dinner.
And you should know that restaurants in Spain do not open before 8.00 p.m. And you should also know that I like to take my time enjoying Spanish recipes and the Spanish wines like the splendid white Marques de Riscal or the superb red Rioja Faustino I.
Now that you know all this you may wonder if there's a market in Spain and if there is, if it's worth while.
My answer is ..........
The market in Spain is HUGE!
You should not forget that what's rebuild and developed in the rest of Europe since the end of World War II in 1945, this process only began in 1974 in Spain after the death of dictator Franco. The Spanish are catching up and they do that in the same pace they talk: FAST!
Their infrastructure is phenominal and they had the advantage of skipping lots of try-and-error phases that many other countries in Europe had to go through.
The Spanish are fond of luxury goods, jewelry, cosmetics, software (oops, in Spanish, with Spanish keyboard!), cars, gadgets, fashion (except shoes, whatever you do, don't sell shoes in Spain, they make plenty of them theirselves), classy things and all kind of accessories.
And they definitely will spend their money! Remember I told you about the commercial for Valencia TV? It was about the introduction of a food supplement. I set the intro price at 14.95 Euro. It didn't sell well until I raised the price to 29.95 and improved the packaging! They appreciated the perceived value.
So, if you want an outstanding market, here it is. Your only problem will be to find a reliable Spanish speaking partner. Because in business, the Spanish regard a company or a contract as a pair of shoes. If it's worn out, you just dump it.
My advice to anyone trying to set up a business in Spain is the same as the famous Spanish tenor Placido Domingo said in a commercial: Visit Spain!!It really is a beautiful country with beautiful people, full of warmth and passion, and has an immense cultural background and history.
At least try to understand them.
That's it for today.
Wish you success.
Case Stevens
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