listen. there is nothing, i repeat - NOTHING - you cannot get in DR. granted, you will need money to get it. but then those who want fancy stuff have money. and those who simply want whatever they miss from home have other means to get it.
if something here is expensive in DR and cheap elsewhere there is a reason for it. transport, shipping, taxes, insurance, storage, you name it. lots of things come into play when you decide to import things. and they you also want to make a profit on the top of all those costs. and since you went through all this pain you want a decent profit to make up for the constipation, stomach ulcers and sleepless nights after you fought bureaucrats every step of the way.
granted, there are some things with truly idiotic prices. a nivea cream is about 100 pesos in a large supermarket in poland (detail price, wholesale it is even less). yet it costs nearly 600 pesos in DR. no amount of taxes and transport costs can justify that. but you know what can? little demand. they bring small quantity and they want to make money on it, as much as possible. but should they bring more, a lot more, they could sell more for less and still make money on it. but then look at dominican supermarkets: four aisles of hair products and one shelf of face creams. i dunno. maybe dominicans like their crema blaqueadora more than nivea products. and maybe foreigners, like myself, do not even look at this pathetic choice and they buy online or stock up whenever they travel back home.
if you want a business in DR you cannot think in categories of: what people want. people want different things. look at what you can do, and do better than others. and then think if that has any relevance to dominican reality. do not ask dr1ers. all we want is cheap ass, breakfast sausage links and nivea cream.