Business View Magazine - November 2016

52 Business View Magazine - November 2016 PriceSmart Driving down prices “Our primary objective is to be able to create this wide gulf between our pricing and the competitor’s pricing,” says Bill Naylon, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of PriceSmart, the largest operator of membership-based warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean. “If the competitor’s at 30, and we’re at 20. . .we’ll try to figure a way to get to 19.” According to Naylon, that business philosophy is a di- rect inheritance from the legendary Sol Price, an early pioneer of the membership-warehouse store concept. “The Price family – Robert and Sol Price – started the whole warehouse club industry back in 1976, in San Diego,” he states. “About eight years later, Sam’s Club, Costco and BJ’s came along as well as several others that eventually either went out of business or were ac- quired.” “Price Club competed with Sam’s, BJ’s, Costco, and some of the others until the early ‘90s,” Naylon con- tinues. “In 1994, Price Club and Costco decided to merge. Jim Sinegal, the CEO and Co-Founder of Cost-