Small and Medium Enterprise Competitiveness Facility (SCF) is set to launch a Point of Sale (PoS) database which aims at assisting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to boost their domestic and international markets.

The product which targets SMEs processing and selling food products will be launched tomorrow in Dar es Salaam.

The database equipped with Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar markets information would help entrepreneurs to increase their sales through appropriate distribution channels identification based on market segments.

Speaking to the press in Dar es Salaam at the weekend, SCF Project Director Casmir Makoye said his office decided to develop the PoS database after it realised that many entrepreneurs were looking for assistance to carry out market research which at times turns to be costly to them.

“In carrying out our duties as SCF, we realised that many entrepreneurs do seek to carry out market research. We have been assisting them in that line, but we later realised that not all market research that one does gives a positive result, despites the expense one has to incurr in the process. These are some reasons that pushed us to come up with this PoS database, that will greatly assists SMEs,” he said.

According to Makoye PoS database is a system that has taken all necessary food products outlets in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.

He said in coming up with the PoS database, they managed to survey 13,000 market outlets in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, touching on 19 major food categories.

“Given that vast market survey we have in the database, a food processor will find out where a particular product has a higher demand,” Makoye said.

Mentioning some benefits consumers of this product will have, the Project Director said the processor will be able to decide on the market they want to take a food product depending on the level of their production.

“The database will show the producer where there are few distributors of a similar product but the market demand for their product is high.

“Third, it helps the processor to design their distribution channels. This means that they will be able to decide which markets to take their products.

“Fourth, using the results of the PoS database will help the processor or distributor to know what kind of food products are not in the market but have high demand. This can even allow the processor to do product deviation after seeing an opportunity.

“This database has contact details of the distributors, the names of the agents and variety of products they sell and even the size of their shops (floor steps) of which will helps the producers or the processors to know the sales capacity of the said agent or distributor,” Makoye explained.

The Project Director was confident that if SMEs embrace PoS database, they will increase their sales and inturn increase their profits, thereby contributing to the national economic growth.