How Much Local Online Shopping Is There in Trinidad & Tobago?

Some businesses may still say, “Trinis don’t really shop online”, and conclude that online stores are not worth the trouble. But there are local businesses quietly generating consistent sales online every week who will say otherwise. Many Trinis are shopping online, and consider it, as we Trinis say, ‘normal, normal’.

How significant is online shopping in Trinidad & Tobago? Is it still a niche, or has it gone mainstream?

Well, businesses are no longer falling over themselves in any mad rush to sell online. Those days— and they were the pandemic days— are gone. Bad as those days (actually years) were, they were the much needed kick in the pants the industry needed.

Forward Multimedia has firsthand observations and insights, after all, we’ve been on the ground since ecommerce was barely a spark in the country; and there when the spark caught afire. Though it’s not on fire, there is still a fire…

In a ‘tell me something I don’t know’, Trinis are very comfortable shopping online, and have been for years. They’re definitely shopping at Amazon of course, and other popular platforms, evidenced by the popularity of skybox services, and attempts to curtail by the lowering of USD limits on credit cards, and even resorting to the online tax some years ago.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of visits from Trinidad & Tobago to international shopping sites every month, demonstrating strong demand for online purchasing. It’s precisely because of this appetite that local merchants are motivated to pursue their share of the pie.

The lion’s share of online purchases are international, and most likely go to Amazon; and for the ladies, you’ve all shopped on Shein. It’s a fact that most e-commerce activity from Trinidad & Tobago happens on foreign marketplaces, with millions of visits annually; only a teeny, tiny percentage, definitely less than 1% happens on local sites.

Both online and physicals stores share the blame. Many are dissatisfied their product offerings and service, and let their their fingers do the walking… or clicking… on their mouses (or is it mice?).

The demand already exists, but local businesses are not capturing enough of it. This is a huge missed opportunity.

When last have you heard complaints, or complain yourself, about the online tax? The hue and cry, in our typical Trini fashion, was only upon its introduction. There’s been nary a squeak from us since then. And given the current government’s revenue-collection-by-any-means drive, it’s fair to say that this tax won’t be revisited any time soon.

Despite the continuous erosion of USD spending limits on local credit cards, they are getting maxed out anyway on foreign shopping. Trinis want their foreign goods and they want them now.

We Trinis have very resourceful and creative workarounds, juggling multiple credit cards and buying unused balances from other people. In fact, it’s become somewhat of its own cottage industry.

Skybox services have obviously taken a hit from the reduction in spending power from  lower credit card limits, but Trinis’ appetites have not waned. However, skybox providers are not going out of business.

Forward Multimedia has been on the ground when local ecommerce was barely an embryo; regular websites were barely creeping. We’ve had a front row seat, even driving at times to push this idea of local online shopping.

It’s true to say that we’ve seen things…

This is a fact. There are many online stores actually killing it in T&T; many are our own clients. It’s not uncommon to see forty to fifty orders a day. Generally the stores that do so well are in these industries.

• High-demand retail items
• Beauty products
• Fashion
• Specialty niche products

These stores often see consistent weekly online orders where rarely does a week go by without multiple orders coming in. But it’s not that the products are selling themselves; good marketing has a lot to do with it. However, it does help when products have an inherent online demand.

Some stores get moderate performance, nothing really spectacular, typically evidenced by:

• A few orders per day or week
• Seasonal spikes
• Sales tied to promotions

This level is still meaningful additional revenue and enough to not have them questioning the business. If anything, they feel they are on the right track. However, they may not be doing all they should be doing.

Some stores get very poor performance, and are usually those businesses that have a physical store as well as a strictly online store is not stay in business for long if it’s not working out.

Reasons often include:

• Weak marketing
• Poor product selection
• Slow delivery
• Lack of trust signals

Merchants with physical stores tend to get caught up in daily operations with little time for their online store.  Having an online store alone does not guarantee success.

In some cases, little or no online sales are not an indication of bad performance. In fact, other indicators may be very healthy. What we’ve observed are some sites being used as an online catalog only. Visitors do their product research online first, and then make their purchase in person at the store.

So instead of walking from store to store, or even calling around, customers tend to go online as first stage of the shopping journey. They will:

• browse Facebook/Instagram pages
• search Google for products
• watch product videos
• check prices online before leaving home

By the time they visit a store, they may already know:

• what product they want
• how much it should cost
• which store likely carries it

For businesses, this means something very simple: if customers are starting their search online, then your business needs to be visible there.

Our clients are not immune; they fare essentially the same as the market. Being our clients, we have firsthand knowledge of their marketing operations and store performance. And you have to remember that we are dealing with people, i.e. real human beings with proclivities, biases and agendas, so we’re not surprised when they behave like people.

Those that do well:

• Have a good grasp of standard marketing principles
• Have a good grasp of online marketing principles
• Understand the how their social media channels work
• Listen to our advice

Those that don’t are:

• Unable to bridge the gaps between general marketing and online marketing
• Confuse marketing with sales
• Primarily push products with little branding
• Don’t listen to our advice

The market is real, but still low on the curve. Online shopping in Trinidad & Tobago is tiny, but definitely growing. The question is no longer whether Trinis shop online— they clearly do. The real question is which local businesses will position themselves to capture that demand?