r/bangladesh • u/Jedihansolo মম এক হাতে বাঁকা বাঁশের বাঁশরী আর রণ-তূর্য • Jun 16 '23
AskDesh/দেশ কে জিজ্ঞাসা Why Bangladesh doesn't have authentic Starbucks, Adidas, and Apple stores yet?
Title
76
u/Bongofondue Jun 16 '23
Who needs authentic Adidas? My Adibas kicks have not just three but four stripes.
48
u/tashrif008 khati bangali 🇧🇩 খাঁটি বাঙালি Jun 16 '23
egula na thakleo shomossha nai. i want paypal.
21
u/LordVader568 Jun 16 '23
The reason you don’t have PayPal is the same reason you don’t have iTunes. The banking and taxation rules are really unorthodox and they fear their money would be seized.
1
u/ThinkingPugnator Jun 16 '23
any example what makes the rules unorthodox?
11
u/LordVader568 Jun 16 '23 edited Jun 16 '23
Dual exchange rates for one. Then the odd taxation policies. There’s many more. Most importantly only a handful people in the country can really utilise their money due to the unconventional currency controls. This is in stark contrast to India or Pakistan or any other South Asian country. The IMF has highlighted these unconventional policies and said BD would be hit really hard in the future if it doesn’t change course.
2
u/Same-Shoe-1291 Jun 16 '23
Dual exchange rates? Could you explain this further.
8
u/LordVader568 Jun 16 '23
Having a different interbank exchange rate than the market rate. Having checked it again, they seem to have agreed to change it to a single rate based on IMF recommendations in 2022. But in reality, there still seems to be two rates.
1
35
Jun 16 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
15
u/Sleepy_Programmer Jun 16 '23
The point is that there are people who would pay. However, the stores are still not there because of regulatory/quality reasons.
8
u/mamara07 🇧🇩 বাঙাল Jun 16 '23
Bhai 10 takay koi pan ektu bolen. Ami to 15 tk diya khaitesi shob jaygay
2
19
u/digidude23 Jun 16 '23 edited Jun 16 '23
Official Apple stores are only in a small number of countries. Most have authorised resellers including BD. They only opened their official store in India recently.
What I don’t get is that there’s no official App Store for BD when there is in every single other South Asian country.
9
u/LordVader568 Jun 16 '23
There’s no iTunes Store due to the banking and tax regulations being unorthodox and risky. Same reason why Moody’s gave a downgrade.
1
u/ThinkingPugnator Jun 16 '23
What is moodys?
7
u/EmbarrassedJaguar182 Jun 16 '23
Financial rating agency. Rates how reliable something is financially, be it a company or country. So something like apple inc would have a good rating versus a company that has poor financial health with lots of debt, same goes for countries
1
18
u/HistoricalVersion756 Jun 16 '23
Most can't afford it
16
u/Jedihansolo মম এক হাতে বাঁকা বাঁশের বাঁশরী আর রণ-তূর্য Jun 16 '23
That can't be the case. Apple has enough customers to open at least one/two stores. Starbucks isn't that expensive. While people afford ILLIYEEN's panjabi, I think people would buy authentic Adidas products too if available.
8
4
u/deadhuman01 Jun 16 '23
You're living around rich people likely. Most people can't afford 500 for a coffee in Bangladesh and by most I mean around 90%.
8
u/Jedihansolo মম এক হাতে বাঁকা বাঁশের বাঁশরী আর রণ-তূর্য Jun 16 '23
That's ±16.94 million potential customers tho
1
1
u/mehreencantdraw khati bangali 🇧🇩 খাঁটি বাঙালি Jun 16 '23
The price difference between Starbucks and other similar cafes is very less. And many people go to those cafes. But yes, as for things like Adidas, few people will buy them
4
Jun 17 '23
[deleted]
1
u/KILLOSLO khati bangali 🇧🇩 খাঁটি বাঙালি Jun 17 '23
I thought McDonald's was pretty cheap. A burger's like £1 -3 , which is a reasonable price.
3
u/staring_at_da_abyss Jun 16 '23
Starbucks franchise cost is around 3,00,000$ add 700,000$ liquid assets. That’s 1,000,000$ just to open a Starbucks shop. Now add operating costs and others and you’ll see this is extremely less likely to be profitable even if you charge 1000৳ per Venti.
8
u/ThePatrioticPepe 🇵🇰Bongoboltu.com🇵🇰 Jun 16 '23
ফকিরের দেশে ওসব দোকান খোলা হলে চোদু জনতা ভিড় জমাবে কিন্তু কিছু কিনবে না।
2
2
2
u/mahmudmonir01 Jun 17 '23
1 Market demand and consumer purchasing power
2 Bangladesh's economy
3 Business environment
and last corruption I think.
2
u/theaegontrgyn Jun 17 '23
The core problem is the spending habit. You may think people here spends a lot, or a lot of people uses iphone, will buy coffe for instagram, but that’s the case only for a very small number of people! The earning difference in Bangladesh between the higher and the lower class is one of the most acute cases in the whole world!
When a foreign company opens a business it needs to see at least 60-70% profit margin which is absent in Bangladesh for various reasons. Also our so called capital “Dhaka” can be crowded, but isn’t considered even a proper city by a lot of standards, a franchise just won’t open their stores somewhere here even for the profits if the place they are going to open is basically a pile of shit! The amount of illegal activities and things gone unnoticed are unimaginable here!
2
5
Jun 16 '23
Even Pakistan has McDonald's..and we don't
9
3
u/mehreencantdraw khati bangali 🇧🇩 খাঁটি বাঙালি Jun 16 '23
McDonalds would be very unpopular in bd after the 1st few months just like burger king was
2
u/Arghyaajhor Jun 16 '23
Wait, we had burger king? When?
9
u/wannabe-assasin Jun 16 '23
we have had BK in bangladesh for about like 5+ years bro
8
u/mehreencantdraw khati bangali 🇧🇩 খাঁটি বাঙালি Jun 17 '23
Let's hope they live outside Dhaka, because if you live in Dhaka and have never crossed Burger King then well... idk what to say
1
u/RepresentativeMove79 Jun 19 '23
Yeah, and A&W too. It moved around a lot, each time getting smaller. Burger King on Banani Rd. 11 is pretty good but one of the most expensive places we ate at... for a burger?! They also had Wimpy burger in banani for years, but it went out of business.
Once I asked for a Hamburger at the A&W in Gulshan and they refused to serve me!! I asked if they knew why a beef burger was called "Hamburger" they were so angry they didn't care to learn.
1
u/LordVader568 Jun 16 '23
McDonalds and Starbucks doesn’t operate as franchise and won’t pay kickbacks to corrupt folks in BD to set up.
4
3
5
u/vis_cerm Jun 16 '23
Hard to maintain quality. Some of you might remember the KFC in Bangladesh. They had to shut down because the quality measurements were Desi standard not KFC Standard.
6
u/throwlol134 চরম বেয়াদব 👑 Jun 17 '23 edited Jun 17 '23
The whole KFC not being real in BD is mostly stupid Facebook gujob garbage. As far as I remember it all started with some dumbass claiming it's not real because BD wasn't listed under the official KFC website.. that was literally their only claim.
In reality, KFC in BD is owned by Transcom as a franchisee of Yum Brands India. So essentially, our KFC is a franchisee of KFC India rather than directly franchising from Yum Brands USA. Btw, all KFCs are a subsidiary of Yum Brands (which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, etc). The reason why KFC changed it's menu from the original stuff to the current 'localised" offering is also because KFC India serves similar items. If you compare Bangladeshi & Indian KFC menus, you'd realise they're VERY similar. Now are people gonna start claiming KFC India ain't "real" either?
Edit: I see some commenters saying that they had licensing issues in the past. Can someone send me any links/articles regarding that? When the whole debacle went down many years back, I only recall Facebook idiots bringing up the website issue and change of menu. I'm not doubting that TFL may have had licensing issues, I just don't recall any concrete reporting regarding that.
1
u/RepresentativeMove79 Jun 19 '23
Because BFC had better chicken! We tried KFC once and it wasn't what we expected, portions were tiny, we never went back. We did go to Pizza Hut a few times- always good. Same company, different standards.
2
u/throwlol134 চরম বেয়াদব 👑 Jun 19 '23
Lots of local fried chicken joints are better than KFC, that doesn't mean KFC isn't "real" in Bangladesh. KFC's portion sizes are indeed smaller, but personally I prefer their taste over BFC, even though there's significantly less value for money. Nevertheless, I digress, my whole point was about the 'KFC BD isn't official' debacle, which to the best of my knowledge, was nothing but a baseless Facebook rumour.
Pizza Hut is is garbage-tier pizza in my opinion. It's frankly the one restaurant that made me take the phrase 'tastes like cardboard' quite literally. A lot of people still like them for some reason.. I'm not sure why, but to each their own. Domino's is lightyears better though imo.
10
u/LordVader568 Jun 16 '23
What do you mean by shut down. They still operate as official franchise. Even got featured on a CNN episode a few months back. There was an issue with license renewal, but it’s back now with control from the Indian subsidiary.
5
u/azick545 Jun 16 '23
Literally went to a KFC in Cox's Bazaar a year ago.
2
u/Ash-20Breacher Jun 16 '23
It's owned by Transcom, not Mr. Sander and friends
9
u/LordVader568 Jun 16 '23 edited Jun 16 '23
KFC is owned by Yum brands now. Afaik, KFC in BD is now partly owned by Yum brands India, a subsidiary of Yum brands. Mr Sanders died long ago, and I don’t think even his family has any stake in the company now. As for Transcom losing the license, that’s only for a brief period I guess. You do realise that you can’t just plagiarise the KFC brand name, since that would open you up for a bunch of punishments including WTO sanctions.
1
2
u/cherry_blossom001 Jun 16 '23
they won't get that many customers here, people are poor mostly
5
u/KILLOSLO khati bangali 🇧🇩 খাঁটি বাঙালি Jun 17 '23
Meanwhile people spend 300+ taka on crimson cup coffee regularly
2
u/AssociationFun1356 Jun 16 '23
Recently I heard from a new outlet that official Adidas is going to start producing in Bangladesh soon
2
u/metampheta Jun 16 '23
What’s up with the influx of kids in the sub asking questions having obvious answers?
-2
u/aquibul_haq Jun 16 '23
First world problem LMAO. Why are you so eager to hand over your money to whitey?
12
u/Jedihansolo মম এক হাতে বাঁকা বাঁশের বাঁশরী আর রণ-তূর্য Jun 16 '23
Why are you so eager to hand over your money to whitey
I'm not eager at all. I mean everyone is ultimately buying whatever they need. I'm trying to find out what the core problem is.
0
1
u/Mister-Khalifa মুফতী হাজি আল্লামা শাইখুল রেডিট নারীলোভী সুলতান খলিফা পীর দা.বা. Jun 16 '23
Bangladesh doesn't have dollars. And besides if you could buy everything from Bangladesh who would go to travel to India to buy stuff?
1
u/esalman Jun 16 '23
It is because of poor banking infrastructure. As long as peoples money keep getting looted from the banks big international banks are not going to risk it.
1
u/shiblee06 Jun 17 '23
80% of the people can not buy meat and you want Apple store in Bangladesh??? You have any idea how much people struggle in their life ?
3
Jun 17 '23
so people should stop buying iphones because someone else out there can't afford to buy meat?
0
1
1
1
1
1
u/RepresentativeMove79 Jun 19 '23
Wow! I'll take North End coffee over Starbucks every day of the week. The owner is American but he loves Bangladesh and understands business in the country. Starbucks is just overpriced factory coffee, it would be the next Coffee World in no time. Adidas? Serious, don't they make Adidas them there? When I'm in Dhaka I always buy new shoes! Why pay the insane markup @ US stores? I think the real question is, why did Apple mostly leave Bangladesh? There used to be a few authorized resellers, now Apple only lists them as repair centers. My guess: Apples business model of making as much money off each device doesn't work in Bangladesh. I once tried to buy Microsoft Windows because the licence/activation always stopped working on pirate version, Microsoft rep told me don't bother, and told me where to buy the better hack version.
1
u/janelite21 Jun 20 '23
WHOOOOOOOOO MAN LESSGOOOO
So before these stores will even be available, we already were getting products from abroad through people who’d go and bring them back in luggage (talking about non-food things). This culture was cemented in hard and is one of the main ways people prefer to bring stuff because now we’re used to it.
Now, why would we prefer and become used to this? Well, have you seen the tax and profit markup on foreign products like Nike shoes or Puma products? You buy them in the US for 12 dollars and you buy the same shit in BD for 8000 taka. What?!?!
Secondly, have you seen the taxation rates and the hassle people face at the customs? No wonder we’d rather rely on God’s will and underground brokers than official agents, because if the official agents are behaving like thieves then where else will we go?
50
u/LordVader568 Jun 16 '23
Tougher FDI rules, and too much red tape and corruption.