Marc Anthony is the Chief Operating Officer of Maxland, a fast-growing store in Ago, Okota. With the new store opening during the festive season, Marc Anthony shares with JOY NGWOLO the driving force behind the business among other values that stands the store out. Excepts!
What are the specific needs that Maxland Supermarket is serving in this community?
In recent times, people are trying to move into what we call modern trade. It is about bringing the market closer to the people. It is a market in totality. You can buy groceries, clothes, shoes, foodstuff, meat, ice-cream all in one shop. It opposes the idea of traditional trade, going into the open markets and getting your legs dirty.
What gap are you bridging by setting this up? Do you think that more people prefer to buy from superstores?
That is why it is called the transition from traditional trade to modern trade. The idea of Maxland is to try to bridge that gap, stopping people from going to the open market because, in the next 15 years, analysis has shown that you will not find many people in the open market, more people will prefer to go to the supermarkets to shop. People want comfort, the idea is making shopping more convenient for people. Instead of going far, people can now access a local store.
But some people have the mindset that things are cheaper in the open market?
Only when they try they will start changing their minds. On our marketing platform, we tell them to come and try, a trial will make you to either pitch your tent or not.
What other unique features does Maxland possess that makes it stand out from others?
The truth is, there are other supermarkets around here but they can only offer you groceries, they can’t offer you farm produce and village kitchen but Maxland offers you all that. We slaughter cows here because there is an abattoir, the meat we serve to the public is as fresh as this morning. The parking space is big enough to contain about 50 cars and I think that is impressive as opposed to what you have around here.
From the day of inception till now, how has the turnout been?
The turnout has been very impressive. The feedback I have been getting is that customers have been amazed. And of course, we don’t joke with complaints, each time anyone comes, we fix it immediately.
How lucrative is the supermarket business in general?
The supermarket business is not as lucrative as people think it is especially for a shop like Maxland that is a discount shopping centre. When you have the interest of the masses at heart, you tend to reduce the prices of goods in your supermarket just to fit into what the masses need, you can’t expect it to be that lucrative because the truth is the supermarket business is capital extensive. People come in, they look at the edifice forgetting that most of the things you see there, you can get elsewhere and here it’s cheaper which means that gain is small. Some people are into the business and if you see their profit margin, it’s so high, but if you walk into their shops you cannot see bread of N200 but in Maxland we do business as an avenue to give back to the masses. We are focused on our customers and how we can satisfy them, we can go to any length to make sure that our customers are never angry.
In your view, how do supermarket owners benefit from promos and bonanzas? Does it improve their businesses?
It is a two -way thing. Promos are meant to boost sales and to bring in customers but if the item used for the promo is not in the interest of the customers, it is a lose-lose but if it is in the interest of the customers, it is actually a win but not exactly win-win because promos are meant to sell a brand and give it more publicity and not really about bringing profit.
