No Frills - No-frills Supermarkets

No-frills Supermarkets

No-frills supermarkets are recognisable by their store design and business model.

  • They do not decorate aisles and sometimes they don't even fill shelves. In this case, pallets of the products on offer are simply parked alongside the aisles, and customers picking up products will gradually empty them. When all items on a pallet have been sold, they are replaced. Prices are given on plain labels.
  • Queueing at the checkout is relatively common, as staffing levels reflect average demand rather than peak demand. At actual peak times, customers often have to wait.
  • Shopping bags are charged for, as they are seen as a frill. Thus many shoppers put their shopping in the old cardboard boxes that the products came in, put it directly in their trolleys, re use old bags, or buy shopping bags at a low fee. Some low cost stores (such as Kwik Save in the United Kingdom) have abandoned this policy due to complaints from customers.
  • They work on the principle that in most supermarkets, 20% of products on sale account for 80% of what people buy. Therefore, they only stock the most commonly sold products.
  • They only take cash and debit cards (although this has changed in many stores over the years due to the high usage of credit cards).
  • They only open at peak times i.e. 9 am to 6 pm Monday to Saturday, although a few stores are 24hrs.
  • They often do not serve branded items, except in the case of special purchases, which are almost always at a discounted price. Instead, they sell generic or private label products.
  • The shopping carts have a coin-operated slot, to ensure that the trolleys are kept on site.
  • They usually lack butcher, bakery and deli counters.
  • Staff (or even the managers) sometimes do the cleaning.
  • Must bag your own groceries
  • No in-store background music, although some use Satellite Radio.

Examples of no-frills supermarkets are:

  • Bottom Dollar Food (United States).
  • Save-A-Lot (United States).
  • Colruyt (Belgium), (France), (Luxembourg), (Netherlands).
  • Lidl (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom).
  • Aldi (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United States, and United Kingdom).
  • Franklins (also sells the "No Frills" generic product range) (Australia)
  • Rite Price (sell low/out of code and discontinued lines) (Australia)
  • Food Basics, a subsidiary of A&P (United States)
  • Food Basics, a subsidiary of A&P Canada, formerly owned by A&P, but sold to Metro Inc. in 2005 (Canada)
  • Price Chopper, a subsidiary of Sobeys (Canada)
  • Maxi, a subsidiary of Loblaw Companies (Canada)
  • No-Frills, a subsidiary of Loblaw Companies (Canada).
  • Super C, a division of Metro Inc. based in Québec.
  • Biedronka, a subsidiary of Jerónimo Martins (Poland)
  • Bónus (Iceland).
  • Poundland (United Kingdom).
  • Netto (Denmark, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, Lanzarote)
  • REMA 1000 (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia).
  • Alepa, a subsidiary of the S-market chain) (Finland).
  • Denner (Switzerland) used to be a no-frills retailer, but has started polishing its image.
  • Pak'n Save (New Zealand)
  • Dia* (Spain, Greece, Turkey, Brazil, China, Argentina, Portugal)
  • Leader Price, France
  • Minipreço* (Portugal)
  • Ed* (France)
  • Usave, a subsidiary of the Shoprite chain (South Africa, Angola, Ghana, Malawi, Swaziland and Namibia)
  • Dia, Minipreço and Ed are all part of the Dia Group, which is in turn part of the Carrefour Group.
  • Wilkinson (UK)
  • WinCo Foods, an employee owned supermarket in Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and California in the USA which offers low prices on generic and namebrand products.

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