Good plan if you do your shopping near Lens or Cambrai: the new supermarket chain Toujust plans to set up there between mid-April and early May, and it promises prices “5% to 10% cheaper” than elsewhere. The first store will open on March 1 in Alès (Gard), and around fifty will open before the end of the year.
Toujust sees itself as an “anti-crisis model”. And to beat the competition on the price front, the economic model has been redesigned. Compared to its competitors, Toujust intends to “remove intermediaries – as well as their respective margins – which weigh on shopping carts”, explains Fabrice Gerber, the founder, who has worked for Aldi, System U or Leclerc.
This is what he calls “a chain of collaborative supermarkets”: the suppliers are associated with the capital of the company which gives them a right to up to 25% of the profits “in return for their best prices”. What Fabrice Gerber defends is a “need to return to the fundamentals of trade”: “We prefer to go directly to visit producers, breeders, manufacturers rather than going through wholesalers and centrals who all take their margins “. In the region, for example, a partnership has been established with the Lille Brewery, which produces Lydéric beer.
On the shelves, you will therefore find around 70% of white label products. “We don’t expect the manufacturer to put a lot of money into marketing. It’s not the brands that interest me but what’s on the consumer’s plate,” adds Fabrice Gerber. There will still be references such as Coca-Cola or Nutella on the shelves… which you may pay up to 10 or 20% less since Toujust intends to go through brokers who would resell “clearance” products at industrial.
As for the interior of supermarkets, Fabrice Gerber promises that “you won’t find anything low cost there”: no boxes on the floor and very few pallet presentations. The “warm and functional” stores will also include “a hot spot with bakery, snacking”, even certain services such as La Poste branches.
And for Fabrice Gerber, it was essential to open in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais. “The success of many brands has passed there, like Auchan. Even Aldi opened its first store in Croix in 1989. It is a very loyal population, but which is also receptive to new projects. And the managerial approach has been very positive, with employees who have real work values”.