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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SHOP LOCAL, EAT AT HOME TREND BODES WELL FOR SPAR AUSTRALIA With close to 40 years as part of the supermarket retail scene in Australia, the market never ceases to amaze, says PAR Australia Managing Director Lou Jardin, but as he tells Retail World’s Lorna Gloria, nothing compares to the SW current experience. e’re part of a dynamic industry that undergoes continual change as new players and concepts are changing trends. Many of the SPAR companies are multigenerational and been have been in existence with the same owners for more than 50 years, the businesses being handed down to the next line of succession. Some are now in their fifth generation. This allows the businesses to plan for the long term, not impacted by the short-term demands of the stock market, Mr Jardin says. SPAR Australia has set about developing a long-term strategy. The Jardin family has owned the SPAR business in Australia for close on 10 years. “The fundamentals of our strategy have remained unchanged throughout that period,” Mr Jardin said. “This has allowed us to build the foundation and gives us flexibility to be adaptable to meet the demands of the ever-changing consumer. “The critical part of our philosophy is ‘family business supporting family businesses’ where we’re ‘better together’ every day. This philosophy drives the behaviour of every one of our staff members as we endeavour to serve our retailers better.” Business accelerated SPAR Australia has had an outstanding year so far, according to Mr Jardin, and was experiencing strong growth even pre- Covid. This has accelerated over the past six months as the ‘shop local, eat at home’ consumer has gravitated towards local suburban and country stores. “Although store numbers haven’t grown, we’ve seen many new stores open this year,” he said. “These have more than compensated for the closures in net volume. As we accelerate the demands for standards and compliance, poor performing retailers have considered their options.” This added compliance has made SPAR the preferred choice for many suppliers, which have achieved growth above the market average. “We’re moving away from the traditional model where the wholesaler and the individual independent brands pay lip service to compliance for fear of losing volume,” Mr Jardin said. “This in itself has been a major hinderance to growth as retailers pocket supplier support.” The grocery industry Government stimulus packages have injected plenty of cash into stand-alone independent stores, driving strong growth, Mr Jardin says, but “at some point this is going to stop, and we should prepare for life after JobSeeker and JobKeeper”. “The combination of these factors plus the ongoing change within the industry towards online, healthy alternatives and ‘quick and easy’ will make the environment extremely challenging,” he said. “Retailers that can pick the trends and develop strategies to take advantage of them will come out on top in the future. This is what makes the retail industry an exciting place to be part of.” introduced to cater for the ever-evolving consumer, says Lou Jardin. “With this comes the accelerated pace at which change is occurring, putting enormous pressure on our ability to adapt,” the SPAR Australia boss said. Supermarkets in recent years were already under increasing pressure to adapt, with the consumer pushing harder into online as demand increased for the added convenience of either fully prepared or partly prepared food. “Australia was well behind these international trends but is now forced to catch up in a hurry,” Mr Jardin said. The Covid pandemic has accelerated this change, he says, forcing consumers to stay at home – and relearn eating at home – by limiting their ability to dine out. “Consumers are now more than ever avoiding crowds, so ‘shop local, eat at home’ has become the increasing trend,” Mr Jardin said. “The result is a major benefit for independent local stores, with SPAR taking advantage of the opportunity with a more disciplined, consistent offer.” SPAR family and network As part of a network of more than 12,000 stores in close to 50 countries, access to SPAR International provides a direct window into how the individual SPAR countries have adapted to the constantly 14 RETAIL WORLD SEP, 2020