Consumption: Intermart making inroads in retail

Intermart supermarket chain opened its doors in September 2011. This new chain quickly propagated from Ebene to Bagatelle and Curepipe with a turnover of Rs 1.5 billion. Five years later, four new shopping outlets have opened their doors – Grand Baie, La Croisette, Quatre Bornes and the latest in Beau Bassin. 

The retail chain now boasts a turnover in excess of Rs 4 billion, the second best among its peers. “We have in mind three more outlets in order to better serve Mauritian customers who are used to shop with us,” the director of Intermart, Ignace Lam told News on Sunday. One outlet will open its doors in Floreal next year, construction works have already begun. The two others will be ready by the end of 2030.

Intermart started with a partnership between How Hong and Ignace Lam, two families already in the retail business. They decided at the beginning of this century to adopt the French Intermarché brand, the latter has 86 hypermarkets and 1,361 supermarkets occupying the third position in France with a turnover of 30.9 billion Euros annually with the retail of a wide range of products from perfumes to domestic appliances.

Today, How Hong is managing the business of Ebene, Bagatelle, La Croisette, Curepipe and Quatre Bornes while leaving the Grand Baie and Beau Bassin outlets in the hands of Ignace Lam. The seven outlets to-day provide 700 direct jobs and around a thousand indirect jobs.

As we embark on a new year, News on Sunday wants to know more about this new shopping tradition and the capacity of the Mauritian consumer to visit such malls. Ignace Lam has a positive outlook: “Our retail business has been growing steadily and we are expecting further growth with the increasing number of Mauritians shopping at Intermart outlets. While celebrating our 5th anniversary, we proposed extra discounts to our customers during the new year period with extra bonus points given together with a privilege card.”

What is the trend regarding shopping malls? “Customers look for convenience when doing their shopping and they have the opportunity to move around freely and safely within a shopping mall and at the same time spending some moments with their family.”

Regarding the choices consumers have and their demands, Ignace Lam says that the choice is huge. Consumers are very demanding and are always looking for the best bargain and it is the retailer’s role to always satisfy their demand in terms of the right product at the best price.

Shopping malls have sprouted over the past decade in Mauritius, does this not give rise to an overtly consumerist society? “It is not exactly the case. It is the environment in which Mauritians are living, with proper strategies and policies brought forward by the authorities – Ease of Doing Business – the setting up and promotion of SMEs as well as jobs for all are a few steps taken towards helping the Mauritian workers to ask for more goods. Adding to that is our branding. Intermart is a catchy ensign and is rapidly becoming the first name in Africa.”

What does he think about cases which consumer advocacy groups regularly bring to our attention regarding prices paid at the till that are the same as shown on the product when it is over the shelves? “We don’t have the interest to change from what is shown to what is being asked, it kills business and a good retailer running such a huge mall cannot get involved in such transactions.”

There is also the common belief that shopping malls have killed the small shops who served loyally the population living in rural areas for more than a century.

“I would like to pay homage to all the small shop owners who served the population of rural areas. Unfortunately many have had to close down, surely not because of us who have created a new way of doing shopping. The reasons are elsewhere, first because there is no takeover by the younger generation who has suffered much at watching their parents toiling day and night serving the people at any time of the day and even at night. Others who persist could not modernise their business in order to face competition,” he says.

“Anyway what I have to say is that we owners of hyper and supermarkets do not want to wipe out any small shop from the commercial map of Mauritius. There is place for everybody who wants to get involved in commerce provided they have a modern outlook,” Ignace Lam told this paper.