The following article appeared in the business pages of the local edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Sunday, July 10, 2011.
Retailer To Open Buying Office
SMITH HELPS SPUR GROWTH OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
By Christie Swanson
A Korean retailer will soon have an office in Northwest Arkansas.
The recruitment of international businesses to the area is the latest venture of Cameron Smith.
He helped spur the explosive growth of vendor offices for Walmart. When he started his executive search firm Cameron Smith & Associates in 1994 about 50 vendors had offices in the area. Today there are 1,246. His new vision has enticed E-Mart, South Korea’s largest discount retailer, into opening a 10-person buying office in the area.
Vendors and retailers benefit when offices are close by because it builds relationships between the companies and helps merchandise flow smoothly from manufacturer to customer.
Walmart’s Northwest Arkansas vendor community is composed of companies of all sizes and specialties, including Procter & Gamble, Revlon, LG and DreamWorks.
Smith said as new retailers arrive, vendor offices will need to adjust and bring in additional workers.
“Walmart doesn’t want any insights being discussed with any other retailers. They are uncomfortable with other retailers working with their buyers,” he said.
But the extra selling power afforded by international growth will be an easy sell to suppliers, he said.
Smith said E-Mart is the second international retailer he has helped move to Northwest Arkansas. The first was a Philippine retailer that placed a buyer in the area.
E-Mart declined to comment on the move until the office is ready to open, but Smith said that should be soon.
“They loved the idea, they’ve researched it and are now ready to do it,” Smith said.
E-Mart has 128 stores in South Korea and China, and opening a local buying office will open the doors to small to mid-size American companies they would otherwise not be able to reach, Smith said.
E-Mart is the retail brand of South Korea’s Shinsegae Group and says on its website it opened the first discount store in Korea in 1993.
Walmart and E-Mart have crossed paths before. Walmart pulled out of South Korea in 2006, selling all 16 stores to Shinsegae for $882 million. Those Walmart stores switched to the E-Mart brand.
Smith said he is in talks with about five other global retailers.
Drawing new international retailers into the area not only helps Smith grow his business, it helps the Northwest Arkansas Council meet goals established in its January report, Greater Northwest Arkansas Development Strategy.
Mike Malone, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Council, said the report identified retail as one of the region’s eight key job growth sectors.
“Why wouldn’t they want to set up shop here and benefit from what is already here,” he asked. “I would argue there are no two other counties in the country that have the level of retail expertise you will find here.”
Malone said it is important to recruit new businesses while continuing to support the retailers responsible for the growth.
The Arkansas World Trade Center in Rogers also plays a part in new international trade.
Dan Hendrix, trade center CEO, said the group hosted the team from E-Mart in January and more than 20 companies presented products. Hendrix said he would not disclose the companies involved because of confidentiality agreements.
Trade with Korea became a statewide topic in late June when the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration held a seminar in Little Rock on the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement that awaits Congressional ratification.
The agreement would eliminate tariffs within five years for more than 95 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products, and tariffs would be eliminated for nearly two-thirds of U.S. agricultural exports immediately.
The meeting’s goal was to show how the trade agreement could help U.S. companies be more competitive in the Korean market, Hendrix said. He said South Korea is a huge market for U.S. and Arkansas products.
Korea is the seventh largest U.S. trading partner and fifth largest U.S. market for agriculture goods, according to the U.S.-Korea Business Council.
Full implementation of the Korea trade agreement could generate nearly 280,000 jobs, including 2,556 in Arkansas, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. More than 52,000 Arkansas jobs are supported by good exports, representing 5 percent of the state’s private industry, according to the commission.
“We really promote two-way trade, because that is important,” he said. “They want to trade with each other in both buying and selling.”
Hendrix said if Congress ratifies the trade agreement it could have a big impact on Arkansas manufacturing, innovative technology and agriculture.
“About 96 percent of the world’s population lives outside the border of the U.S. and all these countries are passing free trade agreements with each other,” Hendrix said. “That’s why it’s important to move forward.”