Franklins

Infobox_Company
company_name = Franklins & Family Supermarkets
company_
company_type = Supermarket
company_slogan = "Australia's Original Discount Grocer"
foundation = 1941
location = flagicon|AUS Sydney, Australia
key_people =
num_employees =
industry = Retail
products =
revenue =
homepage = [http://www.franklins.com.au/ www.franklins.com.au]
intl = yes

Franklins is a discount supermarket chain selling packaged groceries and perishables throughout New South Wales, Australia. It owns the No Frills brand of generic products, promoted by their mascot, "Red Sock". It is known as "Australia's Original Discount Grocer". Franklins also had stores in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia until 2001.

History

Beginnings (1941-1978)

In 1941, Franklins was established in Sydney by Frank Lindstrom. It is his second supermarket chain, having sold his first one to Woolworths. In 1954, Franklins was acquired by Harold Cornock and Norman Tieck. Under their leadership it grew to cover much of New South Wales, and had a reputation for low prices.

Early Dairy Farm International (1978-1992)

In 1978, Cornock and Tieck sold the 75-store supermarket chain to Dairy Farm International, which maintained the chain's discount focus. Its turnover was AU$1 million. Franklins launched its No Frills generic range of products (store brand). This is the first such range in Australia. The smaller stores' format were changed to revolve around this brand, selling little else. This made them similar to Europe's Aldi, which pioneered this format. The stores became known as Franklins No Frills. In retaliation, Woolworths later launches "Home Brand" and Coles launches "Scotch Buy" (later rebranded as "Savings"). Around this time, Bi-Lo begins in Adelaide, using the same format as Franklins.

In 1982, Franklins expanded outside of Sydney and ultimately New South Wales to open its first stores in Victoria, at Deer Park and Gladstone Park.

In 1983, Franklins opened its first store in Queensland, at Toowoomba.

In 1989 Franklins opened its first store in South Australia. Franklins also launched FRFM, Franklins' own in-house radio station playing songs and advertising specials.

By 1989, Franklins had also expanded into the ACT, covering the east coast of mainland Australia and South Australia.

Late Dairy Farm International (1992-2001)

In 1990, Franklins opened attached liquor stores under the brand Liquor Save. Franklins also opened its 200th store.

In 1992, Franklins Big Fresh was launched. This was a "food barn" format Dairy Farm had developed in New Zealand as "Big Fresh". Some existing stores were converted to this format, while others were built. The first Franklins Big Fresh store opened in Leichhardt, and others were opened in Marrickville, Macquarie Centre and Gosford. The Gosford store featured a unique mini branch of the Commonwealth Bank within the store, a first for Australia. It also had a small hairdressing kiosk inside the store. The hairdressing kiosk was rolled out to a number of other stores, although not all were the Big Fresh model. At the same time, Franklins started opening a few Mini Fresh stores in Queensland.

In 1994, Franklins launched Franklins Fresh, a mainstream supermarket format. In contrast to "Franklins No Frills" stores, they sold fresh produce, baked goods and meat as well as groceries. The "Fresh" part of the logo was similar to the one used by Big Fresh. It was designed to be a smaller version of Franklins Big Fresh. The first Franklins Fresh store opened in Engadine.

The 1990s Franklins revamp was now complete. Its chains were:

*Franklins No FrillsSold dry groceries and perishables in mid-sized discount supermarkets.Similar chains: Woolworths' Food For Less, Jewel.

*Franklins Mini FreshSold fresh food and dry groceries in smaller convenience stores.Similar chains: Woolworths Metro, Coles Express (now Coles Central), IGA Express, 4 Square (now Eziway).

*Franklins FreshSold fresh food and dry groceries in mid-sized discount supermarkets.Similar chains: Bi-Lo, Flemings, IGA Everyday, IGA Friendly Grocer, Dewsons.
*Franklins Big FreshFull-service food barn/supermarket similar to Coles and Woolworths but pitched as being a bit cheaper. Most of them also had attached "Liquor Save" outlets. They were the only supermarket to have a store mascot - a chicken.Similar chains: Coles, Woolworths, Bi-Lo Mega Frrresh, Supa IGA, Action.

*Liquor SaveAttached bottle shops (aka off licences).Similar chains: Woolworths' Mac's Liquor (Now Woolworths Liquor), IGA Liquor, Coles' Liquorland.

In 1998, Franklins launched its first advertisement on TV with its first slogan, "More in your trolley for less". It also trial converts selected "No Frills" stores to "Franklins Fresh" and installs environmentally friendly fluorescent lighting in these stores. First Choice, an alternative (and short-lived) generic product range, is also launched. Franklins, Franklins Fresh and Franklins Big Fresh also launched their websites that year.

In 1999, Franklins opened new stores and upgraded former No Frills stores to Franklins Fresh stores and unveiled its new logo, which is still used today, though it was only in use at selected stores at first. Also due to the logo change, Franklins Fresh also unveiled a new logo. The "Liquor Save" outlets were also re-branded as Franklins Liquor (attached to selected No Frills and Fresh stores) or Big Fresh Liquor. It had also positioned itself by this time as the national discount supermarket operator.

In 2000, Franklins sponsored the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. It sold a range of Paralympic merchandise. By the end of 2000, there were 287 stores.

Pick 'n Pay (2001-Today)

In 2001, Franklins' mass expansion and reformating ended in failure" [http://web.archive.org/web/20011115233751/www.smh.com.au/news/0104/19/business/business1.html SMH.com.au news article, April 19, 2001] ."] . Dairy Farm International exits from Australia in May, and many stores were sold to Woolworths (which got 67 stores), Coles, Foodland and IGA franchisees" [http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/87738/fromItemId/621419 ACCC 22 May, 2001] ."] . A few closed. This saw the end of Franklins in the ACT, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. 86 stores across New South Wales were sold to South African retailer Pick 'n Pay, which also bought the Franklins name. The "No Frills", "Fresh" and "Mini Fresh" brands survived. "Big Fresh" did not and nearly all were bought by Woolworths and Coles. Pick 'n Pay bought all but one of the 21 Fresco supermarkets and rebranded them as Franklins stores at the same time. The other was shut down. The new Franklins launched the "Saves You Money" slogan. In January Aldi launched in NSW, and quickly filled the void left by Franklins in many areas.

In 2002, Foodland Associated Limited bought 36 Franklins stores across Queensland and Northern NSW as well as its Queensland warehouse facilities. All were rebranded as Action supermarkets. This saw the end for the "Mini Fresh" brand. The "Fresh" and "No Frills" brands were also retired, although their formats remain. All stores more than 2000 square metres are effectively "Fresh" stores. Franklins was relaunched with the slogan "Look at us now!".

In 2003, Franklins changed its slogan to "That's what I like about Franklins!". It also announced that it is not interested in owning petrol stations like most of its competitors. Later that year, the "No Frills" generic product range and the brand itself is revamped and then promoted by its new mascot, "Red Sock".

In 2004, the Franklins website was relaunched and Franklins joined the widespread trend of selling green plastic carrier bags. The fourth Pick 'n Pay era slogan was launched - "Cheap and Cheerful". The liquor outlets were relaunched as Franklins Local Liquor, in addition to the Canberra-based liquor chain. The annual "Birthday Cash Jackpot" competition is also introduced.

In 2005, Franklins started setting up franchise opportunities under the "Franklins Family Supermarkets" brand (similar to the "Pick 'n Pay Family Supermarkets" brand). By that time, there were 80 Franklins supermarkets across New South Wales. The only Franklins store to open that year was the one in Newcastle. The Franklins store in Erina Fair on the Central Coast was also closed.

On 30th January 2006, Franklins opened a purchased store in Ulladulla NSW to show potential franchisees the benefits of changing from IGA to Franklins.Also in 2006, Franklins launched its own loyalty club and begins changing a few stores to the franchise model.There were 77 Franklins stores by the end of 2006.

In 2007, some new stores were opened. Two existing Franklins stores and another two IGA stores were converted to Franklins Family supermarkets. By the end of 2007 there were 80 Franklins stores.

Advertising

Historically, Franklins never advertised due to it being a "no-frills" supermarket. Instead, it advertised specials at the stores, much like Aldi does now. Later, it advertised through their own catalogues, especially when it introduced fresh foods and liquor to its stores. But it was in 1998 when Franklins launched its first TV advertisement with the slogan "More in your trolley for less". Ironically, its rivals Woolworths and BI-LO launched their first advertisements around the same time and Coles was also given a new slogan, also at the same time. Shortly after Dairy Farm International exited the business in 2001, Franklins' advertisements used the slogan "Saves You Money".In 2002, the new Franklins was launched with the slogan "Look at us now!". In 2003 it was changed to "That's what I like about Franklins!" and again in 2004 to "Cheap and Cheerful". That slogan is now rarely used, being largely replaced with and branded as "Australia's Original Discount Grocer".The No Frills generic product range was relaunched in 2003 and promoted by its mascot "Red Sock" on TV advertisements and on its website. "Red Sock" now appears once every so often in the regular advertising on TV, radio, newspapers and catalogues for Franklins.

Generic products

No Frills

No Frills is Franklins' generic range of products. Launched in 1978, it was the first such brand range in Australia and changed supermarket shopping in Australia forever. Franklins stores initially changed the store's format to revolve around the brand, selling little else. The "No Frills" name was also used up until 2002 for the name of the format Franklins had used which is best known for selling dry groceries and frozen perishables only.

Originally, the No Frills brand was only used for its peanut butter, honey and potato chips but has since expanded its range to more than 800 products in packaged groceries and perishables. Fact|date=April 2007

In late 2003, the "No Frills" generic product range and the brand itself had been revamped and was promoted by its new mascot, "Red Sock". Sold with a money-back guarantee, in many cases they’re market leaders in their categories.Fact|date=April 2007

First Choice

First Choice was another generic range of products Franklins had sold. Launched in 1998, it was developed to provide an alternative to the leading brands and have products with quality equal to or better than the leading brands.Fact|date=April 2007 The products didn't just have the quality but also had prices that were anywhere between 10-15% cheaper than the national brands. Fact|date=April 2007

First Choice had over 600 different products and new products were continually being developed everyday. The brand did not survive for long though and by the time Dairy Farm International exited the company in 2001, the brand was dropped, unlike No Frills which continues to be sold at Franklins to this day.

References

External links

* [http://www.franklins.com.au Franklins Australia]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20001204163800/http://www.franklins.com.au/ Franklins Online (pre-2001, location links work here)]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20010201162800/www.franklins.com.au/main.htm Franklins Online (2001)]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19991105032242/www.franklins.com.au/safety.html Franklins website (1999)]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20010128050600/www.dairyfarmgroup.com/dfarm_graphic/operations/fran.html Dairy Farm Website - Franklins Page (Early 2001)]