Fwd: The Story of SPAR: “All benefit from Joint Co-operation”.
vaibhav shekhar
The story of SPAR is the story of Adriaan Van Well, a visionary Dutch wholesaler. He was inspired by a simple yet powerful philosophy that independent wholesalers and retailers can achieve more by working together than working alone. By the early 1930’s there was evidence that multiple chains were expanding in Europe. As a response, SPAR was launched in 1932 as DESPAR, an acronym for the slogan: “Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig”. This translates in English as: “All benefit from Joint Co-operation”.
SPAR in Dutch means fir tree and from the very beginning the fir tree symbol was used to identify the organisation.
The Internationalization of SPAR
SPAR continued to develop in the Netherlands during the 1930s and went international in 1947 when it was introduced into Belgium. In the late 1940s the name was abbreviated from DESPAR to SPAR. SPAR International was established in 1953 to support and develop the SPAR concept internationally. SPAR then expanded rapidly in Europe during the 1950s. By 1959 the SPAR family had extended to include wholesalers and retailers in 9 countries.
The first SPAR International Congress in the Netherlands in 1955 was particularly significant. It signalled the ambition of SPAR to move beyond its European origins and become a worldwide organisation.
SPAR expands worldwide
In the subsequent two decades, SPAR continued to increase its presence in Europe and entered Africa and Asia, where the SPAR concept of partnership between wholesalers and retailers was again recognised. During this period the SPAR family expanded to 14 countries on three continents. A significant development in the sophistication of the SPAR marketing proposition took place at this time. SPAR International introduced the current SPAR Logo in 1968.
The period between 1980-1999 saw SPAR to continue to grow in its existing markets and also expand its presence to an additional 7 countries. By 1999, SPAR was established in 21 countries.
SPAR modernizing food retailing in developing countries
Year 2000 onwards, SPAR has entered the major developing countries like Russia, China and India. SPAR has also continued to expand in Central and Eastern Europe and also in Africa. The continued success of SPAR in existing countries and the level of interest expressed by new countries prove the relevance of the SPAR Partnership model in modern food retailing.
SPAR Hypermarkets and Supermarkets in India is the result of a license agreement between the Dubai based Landmark Group’s Max Hypermarkets India Pvt. Ltd. and SPAR International. SPAR is the world’s largest independent food retail chain and is present in 34 countries.
Max Hypermarkets is responsible for the entire business operation – from capex outlay to day to day operations. Management control also rests with Max Hypermarkets. SPAR provides knowledge transfer and brings with it best practices in international retailing and technical expertise to ensure that the brand is being accurately represented, whilst ensuring that the local partner retains their financial independence to deliver the best solution in each market. SPAR International will play an integral support role in the development of the hypermarket format in India.
SPAR currently has 13 stores in India, 4 stores in Bangalore, one in Mangalore, two in Hyderabad, one in Coimbatore, one in Delhi, two stores in pune, one store in Gurgaon and One store in Vijayawada. Shoppers have the option to choose from a wide variety of quality products in every category ranging from grocery, fruits and vegetables, bakery, dairy and take away foods, meat, poultry and fish, wine, beer and spirits, home textiles, personal care, crockery utensils and kitchen appliances, electronics and IT accessories and much more. In Bangalore alone, SPAR has 14,000 SKUs in the food and grocery category alone which is unparalleled. SPAR serves 3 million customers annually.
SPAR promises to elevate shopping from a daily chore to a world class shopping experience that also offers value for money. SPAR offers the freshest quality, widest choice, greatest value for money along with a personalized and friendly service all packaged together to create a truly enjoyable shopping experience. SPAR’s tag line “Live Life Better” epitomizes this philosophy. To ensure freshness, vegetables and fruits are sourced directly from the farmers and maintained at controlled temperatures till they reach the store, within an 18 hour timeframe. State of the art technology is used to keep the produce fresh while in-store. The emphasis on fresh food is unique and unparalleled and SPAR is committed to bring value to the consumer by increasing the number of fresh lines across all its food and beverage concepts.
SPAR assures excellent value for money throughout the year. The stores have an 'EDLP' or 'Every Day Low Price' concept. This simply means that SPAR offers the lowest retail price on certain products that are fast moving and are an integral part of the housewife’s shopping list. SPAR also has Best Deals that run every fortnight and offer the customer the best bargains of up to 75%. In conjunction with the Landmark Group’s corporate loyalty programme, SPAR launched 'The Inner Circle', a loyalty program for its customers in March 2009 which offers shopping and saving benefits in all stores across the group.
In addition to freshness, choice and value, SPAR also assures world class service.Wide aisles for easy and seamless trolley movement, from entrance to the parking area, fast billing process at the numerous billing tills and even small details like the token system at the fish counter where consumers get freshly cut and cleaned fish,packaged with ice. The stores are customer focused and aim to improve the quality of the shopping experience by bringing tried and tested solutions in lighting and visual merchandising. The intention is to move beyond meeting the product needs of the customer to providing an unmatched shopping experience.
Max Hypermarket India Pvt. Ltd. opened its sixth store in Delhi January 2011, seventh store in Pune April 2011, eighth store in Hyderabad June 2011, ninth store in Coimbatore August 2011, tenth store in Gurgaon september 2011 eleventh store in Pune March 2012, twelfth store in Vijayawada March 2012 and thirteenth store in Goplan signature Mall Bangalore April 2012.
Vaibhav Shekhar
Faculty (Marketing & Strategy Department)
Vaibhav Shekhar
Faculty (Marketing & Strategy Department)