The Super Plus Story, The Good, The Bad and Lessons Learnt – Part 1

The recent news of the financial difficulties facing the Super Plus chain of supermarkets comes as no surprise to me as the signs have been evident for some time.  I would like to look at the Super Plus story in three articles, firstly what was done right, secondly what went wrong and finally what lessons should the financial sector take from Super Plus.

From my perspective the success of the Super Plus chain was built on three main factors.  The first factor was the recognition that many rural areas lacked a supermarket where one could go and buy all of the things that were needed; indeed most areas were still operating the concept of small shops where one can buy the basic items.  Super Plus recognizing the need set up supermarkets in many rural areas where there were no existing ones.  They later expanded the concept to the major urban areas.

Secondly, Super Plus paid attention to the need for providing excellent customer service.  One could always count on finding what you needed at Super Plus who often had items that no other supermarket carried.  When the time came to check out one could be sure that there would be sufficient cashiers to handle the customers.  I have experienced this service many times in the past and was always pleased with the staff at Super Plus.

The third and probably the most important factor was the fact that Super Plus had the lowest prices of all the supermarkets.  I can remember leaving the heart of Kingston and driving up to Stony Hill Square just so that I could take advantage of the lower prices that were there.  The savings more than compensated for the additional Gas that was used in driving to the location.

If you were to have done an informal survey of Super Plus stores five years ago you would have gotten the same response from everyone, Super Plus is the place to go for lowest prices, best quality and superior service.

So what went wrong? Look out for part 2 of this interesting series.

Feedback Question:  What has been your experience with Super Plus?