Spar (retailer)

Spar

Type	Public
Industry	Retail
Founded	1932
Headquarters	Zevenbergen, Netherlands
Products	Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores, Discount Stores Hypermarkets, and more
Revenue	€ 27 billion (2006)
Website	http://www.spar-int.com/

Spar (trademarked as SPAR) is the world's largest food retailer, with approximately 20,000 stores in 35 countries worldwide^[1][2]. Spar originated in the Netherlands in 1932 and now, through its affiliate organisations, operates through most European countries, Nigeria, South Africa, Asia, Greenland and Australia.^[1] It operates on a principle similar to retailers' co-operatives elsewhere, with owners grouping together to get bulk discounts from suppliers/wholesalers.^[1] It has its headquarters in Amsterdam.^[3]

Etymology

The name was originally DE SPAR, which was an acronym formed from the Dutch phrase Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (literally: "through united co-operation everyone regularly profits"). Spaar or spar means "save (money)" in Afrikaans, Dutch, Danish, German, Swedish and Norwegian. "De Spar" is Dutch for "The Spruce", hence Spar's logo. As the organisation expanded across Europe, the name was later abbreviated by dropping "DE", but the underlying meaning remains (in Italy, the name is still Despar, though in keeping with the international branding, the "SPAR" section of the logo is highlighted, and the larger stores are still called Eurospar and Interspar).

History

In 1953 an International Spar office was opened in Amsterdam to control and further develop the organisation throughout Europe and other continents. Most Spar stores are in Europe, but they can also be found in a few countries outside of Europe, such as South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland, Australia, Mauritius, China, India and Japan. In Japan the store operates under the name Hotspar, although the store logo colouring remains unchanged. In the United Kingdom Spar has become known primarily as a convenience store, although in Northern Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland Spar operates using the subformat Eurospar too.

A Spar store may be owned independently, by a franchisee, or be part of a chain, depending on the model applied in any given country. The owners of the parent company vary from country to country and may include the store owners themselves. The only common link between the stores in different countries is the branding—the name and the current logo, which was most recently revised in 1968 by Raymond Loewy and has remained unchanged ever since^[4].

There are a number of sub-brands under the Spar brand, with larger supermarkets being branded "Eurospar" or in Africa "Superspar", smaller stores "Spar Express", and hypermarkets "Interspar". Not all of these brands or formats are used in every country, however.^[5]

The company has been a major sponsor of the European Athletic Association and its events since 1996.^[6]

There is a Drive-Thru Spar on the Cliftonville Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland.^[7]

SPAR opened in the Republic of Vanuatu on the 1st December 2009 ending Au Bon Marche's grocery monopoly that it has held for many years. However, Carpenter Group is set to open a Cash 'n Carry early 2010.

Slogans

Caersws village centre, complete with Texaco garage and Spar shop.

• "Spar is de boodschap": the original Dutch slogan (a play on the double meaning of boodschap: "grocery" and "message")
• "Wat je dichtbij haalt is lekker" ("What you get from close-by, is good" ) : the current Dutch slogan; it's a play on the Dutch saying "what you get from far, is good")
• "So near, so Spar", United Kingdom slogan
• "Spar: There for you", current United Kingdom slogan
• "Under the tree, at Spar" (former Irish slogan, jingle still retained today)
• "Du kjenner oss" ("You know us"), Norwegian slogan
• "More passion for good prices", Romanian slogan
• "Always close to you", Spanish slogan
• "Good for you", South African slogan
• "Dobro zame" ("Good for me"), Slovenian slogan
• "There for you", United Kingdom slogan
• "Big On Value", "Expect a little more" previous Northern Irish Eurospar slogans, now brought into line with the rest of Ireland under the slogan The Supereasy Supermarket
• "Always there for you", Republic of Ireland slogan
• "The Super Easy Supermarket", Irish Eurospar slogan.
• "Making everyday better", Australian slogan, previously "Good Food, Easy Shopping"
• "Alles da da da" ("Everything there there there"), Austrian Interspar slogan.
• "Feel the Taste of Spar", Austrian slogan
• "Mindig Spar" ("Always Spar"), most used Hungarian slogan
• "Baš za mene, Interšpar za mene" (Perfect for me, Interspar for me) - Croatian and Serbian Interspar slogan
• "We got Spar", United Kingdom Slogan (1990s)
• "Quello che vuoi tu, e un po' di più" ("What you want, and a little more"), Italian slogan
• "Spar — der hvor du kan" ("Spar — Where you can") a play on SPAR meaning "save (money)" in Danish, current Danish slogan
• "Live life better" , India Slogan.

International statistics 2006

Country	Sales (thousands)	No. of stores	Sales area(m²)	Sales per area	Average store size (m²)
Austria	€4,307,010	1,429	980,738	€4,392/m²	686
Italy	€3,788,681	1,892	798,707	€4,744/m²	422
United Kingdom	€3,734,850	2,535	361,800	€10,323/m²	143
South Africa	€2,643,232	794	736,434	€3,589/m²	927
Germany	€1,388,648	717	185,870	€7,471/m²	259
Spain	€1,188,330	1,526	394,407	€3,013/m²	258
Ireland	€1,187,000	422	113,506	€10,458/m²	257
Norway	€1,161,159	327	166,711	€6,965/m²	510
Hungary	€975,883	204	236,041	€4,134/m²	1,236
Denmark	€863,868	485	141,710	€6,096/m²	292
France	€834,198	877	220,483	€3,784/m²	251
Japan	€810,530	683	141,318	€5,736/m²	207
Belgium	€655,488	365	144,026	€4,551/m²	395
Greece	€572,741	161	114,554	€5,000/m²	712
Slovenia	€552,800	69	103,556	€5,338/m²	1,644
Czech Republic	€420,286	140	127,140	€3,306/m²	908
Netherlands	€377,061	298	89,198	€4,227/m²	299
Switzerland	€295,402	149	57,434	€5,143/m²	385
Russia	€292,752	81	44,481	€6,582/m²	549
Zimbabwe	€160,426	79	42,682	€3,759/m²	540
Poland	€60,388	50	12,799	€4,718/m²	256
Australia	€55,792	75	22,405	€2,490/m²	487
Botswana	€55,038	23	16,972	€3,243/m²	738
Namibia	€54,046	22	20,023	€2,699/m²	910
Croatia*	€49,140	3	13,115	€3,747/m²	4,372
China*	€30,000	17	94,000	€319/m²	5,529
Mauritius	€16,681	6	5,300	€3,147/m²	883
Zambia	€14,626	5	11,801	€1,239/m²	2,360
Ukraine	€13,651	15	3,531	€3,866/m²	441
Romania*	€6,142	8	13,945	€440/m²	1,743
India	€5,000	4	450	€11,111/m²	225
Total	€27,040,849	13,686	5,567,927	€4,856/m²	407

• *A number of stores opened late in 2006
• India now has 5 Spar stores - 3 Bangalore, 1 Hyderabad and 1 in Mangalore.

References

External links

• Spar Annual Report 2009
• Official website
• Yahoo! - SPAR Handels-Aktiengesellschaft Company Profile (2,500+1,175+200 stores)
• Yahoo! - SPAR (UK) Limited Company Profile (2,600 stores)

Supermarkets in the United Kingdom Big five Tesco · Asda · Sainsbury's · Morrisons · The Co-operative Food (including Somerfield) Up-market chains Holland and Barrett · Marks & Spencer · Waitrose Discount chains Lidl · Aldi · Netto · B & M · Home Bargains · Quality Save Frozen Specialists Farmfoods · Iceland · Jack Fulton · Heron Foods Regional Booths · Dunnes Stores · Filco · Haldanes · Shoprite Online Ocado Other Best-One · Budgens · Costcutter · Happy Shopper · Jones Convenience Stores · Londis · Mace · McColl's · Nisa-Today's · Premier Stores · SPAR · ...instore (and Poundstretcher) · Poundland · 99p Stores See also List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom