Hypermarket

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In commerce, a hypermarket is a superstore which combines a supermarket and a department store. The result is a very large retail facility which carries an enormous range of products under one roof, including full lines of groceries and general merchandise. When they are planned, constructed, and executed correctly, a consumer can ideally satisfy all of his or her routine weekly shopping needs in one trip.

Hypermarkets, like other big-box stores, typically have business models focusing on high-volume, low-margin sales. Because of their large footprints — a typical Wal-Mart Supercenter covers 150,000 square feet (14,000 m²), a typical Carrefour 210,000 square feet (19,500 m²) — and the need for many shoppers to carry large quantities of goods, many hypermarkets choose suburban or out-of-town locations that are easily accessible by automobile.

Contents 1 History 2 Success 3 List of hypermarkets 3.1 United States 3.2 Canada 3.3 Other countries 4 Warehouse club 5 Notes

[edit] History

The concept was pioneered by Carrefour upon opening its first such store in 1962 at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France,^[1][2][3][4] and by Hendrik Meijer in the US when he opened his first hypermarket, Meijer Thrifty Acres (now Meijer Stores), in Greenville, Michigan in 1962.^[5] The original Meijer store, located on the corner of Kalamazoo Avenue and 28th Street, is still open today. 1962 was the same year Jewel-Osco brought Jewel Grand Bazaar into Illinois.^[6] In Canada, the Oshawa group introduced a hypermarket near Montreal in 1973.^[7]

In the 1980s and 1990s, the three major discount store chains in the United States—Wal-Mart,^[8] Kmart^[9] and Target—started developing discount stores in the hypermarket format. Wal-Mart developed Hypermart USA and later Wal-Mart Supercenter, and Kmart developed Super Kmart. In 1991, Dayton-Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation) expanded its Target Greatland discount store chain into Columbus, Ohio, where it learned that its general merchandise superstores were unable to compete against the Meijer hypermarket chain.^[10][11] In response, Dayton-Hudson entered the hypermarket format in 1995 by opening its first SuperTarget store in Omaha, Nebraska.^[12]

[edit] Success

After the successes of super- and hyper-markets and amid fears that smaller stores would be forced out of business, France enacted laws that made it more difficult to build hypermarkets and also restricted the amount of economic leverage that hypermarket chains can impose upon their suppliers (the Loi Galland). Large retailers for the most part work around the law by using loopholes.^{[citation needed]} As of 2004, the Loi Galland has become increasingly controversial and there have been calls to amend it.^{[citation needed]}

In Japan, hypermarkets may be found in urban areas as well as less populated areas. The Japanese government encourages hypermarket installations, as mutual investment by financial stocks are a common way to run hypermarkets. Japanese hypermarkets may contain restaurants, Manga (Japanese comic) stands, Internet cafes, typical department store merchandise, a full range of groceries, beauty salons and other services all inside the same store. A recent trend has been to combine the dollar store concept with the hypermarket blueprint, giving rise to the "hyakkin plaza"—hyakkin (百均) or hyaku en (百円) means 100 yen (roughly 1 US dollar).

In France, hypermarkets are generally situated in shopping centers (French: centre commercial) outside of cities. They are surrounded by extensive parking lots, and generally by other specialized large stores (for instance, selling clothing, sports gear, automotive items, etc.).

[edit] List of hypermarkets

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[edit] United States

Stores in the United States tend to be single-level enterprises with long operating hours; many of them, especially Wal-Mart, are continuously open except on major holidays (typically Thanksgiving and Christmas). Hypermarkets are very controversial in the U.S., with opposition coming primarily from preservationists who argue that they destroy conventional retail districts, including independent grocers and supermarkets and downtowns. Hypermarkets have been most successful in northern states where adverse winter weather conditions make it inconvenient to visit multiple stores.

• Meijer
• Fred Meyer
• Sears Grand
• Super Kmart
• SuperTarget
• bigg's
• Wal-Mart Supercenter
• HEB Plus

USA Failed Hypermarkets^[13]

• Twin Valu - division of Supervalu
• Hypermart USA - division of Wal-Mart
• American Fare - division of Kmart/Bruno's^[14]

These stores were reduced in size from between 220,000 and 260,000 square feet to between 150,000 and 220,000, since 1995 as Wal-Mart Supercenter and Super Kmart.

[edit] Canada

• In Canada, Loblaw operates the Real Canadian Superstore and in the province of Quebec Maxi & Cie. Wal-Mart has been operating stores in Canada since 1994. Initially, Wal-Mart stores offered only dry goods with very few basic groceries (mostly candy, with some snacks and staples), but in more recent years has included a larger selection of grocery items in their stores. This includes an aisle or two of refrigerated and frozen goods. As of 2006, the majority of stores have been modified to reflect this change. However, in 2006, Wal-Mart began building larger stores similar to the Supercenter format in the United States. The first three opened in Ancaster, London, and Stouffville in Ontario, with another 14 projected to open across Canada by the end of the 2007. A number of existing stores may be expanded to reflect this change, where space allows.

[edit] Other countries

• In Finland the largest hypermarkets are Prisma (S-Group), Citymarket (Kesko) and Euromarket (Tradeka).
• Estonia and Latvia have the chain Rimi, which stocks food and other goods in the larger cities of the two countries.
• In France, the dominant chain is Carrefour which is the 2nd largest chain of hypermarkets in the world after Wal-Mart. Other important brands include Géant (with 113 hypermarkets around the world), Auchan, Leclerc and Cora.
• In China, the largest hypermarket retailer is Shanghai-based Bailian (百联), followed by Beijing-based Hualian (华联). Foreign retailers such as Carrefour, Wal-Mart, Metro, Auchan and Ito Yokado also have a large presence in China.
• In Japan, JUSCO (Aeon), Ito Yokado, YouMe Town, Fuji and Aoiyama are widely seen. Tokyo Hyper fish market, the world's largest fishmarket, is a hypermarket as well.
• In South Korea, foreign hypermarkets Carrefour and Walmart failed to gain popularity. Korean hypermarkets include E-Mart, Lotte Shopping, Home Plus and Homever.
• In the United Kingdom, the first hypermarket in the UK was opened in Irlam in 1976 by Tesco.^{[citation needed]} Tesco now operate some smaller hypermarkets known as "Tesco Extra" and also some Tesco Hypermarkets. ASDA (owned by Wal-Mart) also operates some hypermarkets branded as "ASDA Wal-Mart Supercentres". Sainsbury's operated a dedicated hypermarket format from 1975 to 1999. These thirteen "Savacentre" stores were originally a joint venture with BHS and after 1989 became a wholly-owned subsidiary. In 1999 Savacentre stores were merged into the rest of the Sainsbury's supermarket chain.
• In Spain, the largest hypermarkets are Eroski and Hipercor (short for Hipermercado El Corte Inglés). Carrefour also operates many stores in Spain. Spanish hypermarkets tend to be located in the industrial sprawl outside of Spain's dense urban cores.
• In Portugal, there are a considerable number of hypermarket chains in operation, including Continente (the biggest and the first Portuguese chain to go international), Jumbo, Feira Nova and Carrefour. Most of these chains also operate supermarkets and smaller stores.
• In Germany, the biggest hypermarket brands are Real (METRO AG) and Marktkauf (which is a brand of AVA, which in turn belongs to EDEKA). However, for various reasons, such as the strong competition by more focused discounters such as Aldi and Lidl, as well as legal restrictions on store size, pricing policy, and opening times, the hypermarket concept is not as widespread in Germany as in other countries.
• In Italy and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland, the term is ipermercati; see Ipercoop.
• In Malaysia, Giant Hypermarket is the country's first own hypermarket. Other major hypermarkets are Tesco and Carrefour.
• In Singapore, Carrefour was the first to operate hypermarkets.^[15] Malaysian Giant and local NTUC followed.
• In Hong Kong, there were some hypermarkets owned by Carrefour. Currently, there are four hypermarkets, all named PARKnSHOP Megastore.
• In South Africa, the Pick 'n Pay chain uses the term for 14 of their largest stores.
• In India, Géant and Big Bazaar are the major hypermarket chains, though the recent opening up of the retail sector to foreign investors is likely to increase the numbers exponentially.
• In Chile, the principal hypermarkets are Líder, Jumbo and Tottus.
• In Peru, the Wong and its sister hypermarket Hipermercados Metro are the biggest chain in Peru. Their main competitor is Tottus which has the largest stores in South America.
• In Mexico, Comercial Mexicana is the competitor to Walmex, the Mexican operations of Wal-Mart.
• In Brazil, there are hypermarkets open 24 hours a day, such as Extra (from the Pão de Açúcar business group), as well as foreign companies, such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour.
• In Poland, the most common hypermarkets are Carrefour, Géant, Real (which is a brand of METRO AG) and Tesco.
• In Saudi Arabia, Géant and Carrefour are the major hypermarkets.
• In Kuwait, hypermarkets include the Sultan Center and CityCentre. The Sultan Center has 11 Hypermarkets in Kuwait that target European markets (link title). CityCentre has Two Hypermarkets in Kuwait, one in Shuwaikh and one in Salmiya.
• In the Czech Republic, major hypermarkets are Hypernova of Ahold, Globus and Tesco. Cash and carry Makro has its store here too. The film Czech Dream explores the relationship between the general public and hypermarkets.
• In Australia, Coles Myer tried the hypermarket concept in the mid- to late 1980s with more than 35 Super K-Mart stores. However, these were converted to K-Mart and Coles Supermarkets in the early 1990s. Coles Myer still have two hypermarkets in Brisbane named Pick 'n Pay. Coles Myer had planned to open a group of hypermarkets called Coles SuperCentres in late 2007, but due to lower than expected financial performance of the company as well as the fact that it has put itself up for sale to private equity firms, the rollout of the hypermarkets has been delayed.
• In Denmark, Bilka is the biggest chain of hypermarkets (operated by Dansk Supermarked); the 2nd biggest chain is Kvickly xtra (formerly known as OBS, and operated by Coop). Opening of new hypermarkets have decreased resently because of restriction on store sizes to protect the stores in city centers.
• In Slovenia the biggest is Mercator, the 2nd biggest is Spar and the third is Tuš.
• In the Philippines, mall and department store operator Shoemart has blanketed the islands with the hypermarket concept using the SM brand as an anchor store to their malls.
• In Croatia, Mercator and Super Konzum have hypermakets in major towns.
• In Belarus, there is a hypermarket called Gippo (Гиппо) in Minsk. Its logo contains a hippopotamus [3].
• In Russia, Auchan (Ашан) has 10 stores in the Moscow area, two in Leningrad Oblast, and one each in Yekaterinburg and Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast [4].

[edit] Warehouse club

Another category of stores sometimes included in the hypermarket category is the membership-based wholesale warehouse clubs that are popular in North America, pioneered by Fedco and today including Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart; Costco, in which Carrefour has a small ownership percentage;^[16] and BJ's Wholesale Club on the East Coast. In Europe, Makro leads the market. However, warehouse clubs differ from what is normally considered a hypermarket because of their sparse interior decor, restrictive membership, and broad-not-deep selections that maximize inventory turnover.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Carrefour's History
2. ^ "Top 5 Retailers", Extended Retail Solutions, issue 147.
3. ^ Jean-Mark Villermet, Naissance de l'hypermarche, 1991, ISBN 2200372639, Colin (publisher).
4. ^ [1]
5. ^ About Meijer
6. ^ Jewel Grand Bazzar
7. ^ Facts & Figures
8. ^ The Wal-Mart Story
9. ^ Kmart At A Glance
10. ^ Discount Store News article Target to introduce Small Market stores - Dayton-Hudson Corp. Target Stores
11. ^ Discount Store News article Greatland may need food to succeed - Dayton Hudson Corp. Target Stores' Greatland superstores
12. ^ Discount Store News article The test takes off: SuperTarget cautiously picks up the pace - The Power Retailers: Target
13. ^ Forbes magazine, February 13, 1995, p. 55, "Squeezing the tomatoes."
14. ^ [2] Bruno's former link to American Fare and Kmart
15. ^ Carrefour Singapore
16. ^ Robert Spector, "Carrefour enters U.S. via share in Costco", Supermarket News, January 1985.