Iceland (supermarket)

Iceland

File:Iceland logo.svg
Company type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1970, Malcolm Walker
Headquarters	Deeside, Wales, United Kingdom
Number of locations	682 (January 2009)
Website	iceland.co.uk

Iceland is a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, owned by the Icelandic retail conglomerate Baugur. Iceland's primary product lines include frozen foods, such as frozen prepared meals and frozen vegetables.

Iceland's product range includes consumer durables such as freezers and refrigerators which are sold in larger stores.

History

Iceland began business in 1970, when Malcolm Walker opened the first store in Oswestry, Shropshire with his business partners Peter Hinchcliffe, Colin Harris, Thomas Duffin and John Apthorp investing £30 each. This was for only one month's rent at their Shropshire store. They were all still employees of Woolworths at the time, and their employment was terminated once their employer discovered their job on the side. Iceland initially specialised in loose frozen food.

By 1975, there were 15+ Iceland outlets in North Wales, with the first supermarket-style outlet opening in Manchester a couple of years later. The firm's head office moved to Deeside, Flintshire in 1979. Iceland was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1984, by which stage it had 81 outlets.

In 1989 Iceland bought its competitor Bejam which was some three times larger in terms of business. By January 2004, the combined chain had 760 stores throughout the United Kingdom.

Diversification

Finding the retail market more hostile in the late 1990s, Iceland pursued avenues for differentiation. In 1998, the firm began to focus on providing organic food and Genetically modified-free food. This policy saw the company convert its entire frozen vegetable range to organic in 2000.

In 1999, Iceland launched what it claimed to be the first nationwide, free, online grocery shopping service. This tied in with the rebranding of all outlets under the Iceland.co.uk. However, the rebranding exercise appears to have been quietly abandoned in the early 2000s, as the unadorned Iceland name is now used more widely, although some stores still have the Iceland.co.uk name on display.

The supermarket also attempted ties with British Home Stores.

In the summer of 2000 Iceland merged with Booker plc with Booker's Stuart Rose taking the role of CEO of the merged company. He left for the Arcadia Group within a few months. He was replaced by Bill Grimsey in January 2001.

Soon after Grimsey's appointment Malcolm Walker, Iceland's founder & Chairman, was forced to stand down as it was revealed he had sold £13.5 million of Iceland shares five weeks before the company released the first of several profits warnings. Walker was not fully cleared of these allegations until October 2004.

Big Food Group

Iceland was renamed the Big Food Group in Feb 2002, and attempted a refocus on the convenience sector with a bid for Londis. Grimsey remained until the takeover and demerger of the Big Food Group by a consortium led by the Icelandic company, Baugur Group in February 2005. Walker returned to his previous role at Iceland. Under Walker's control Iceland's website contains pages of polemic against Grimsey's period in control.

Recent developments

Since Malcolm Walker's return to the company, Iceland has reduced the workforce by 500 jobs at the Deeside Head Office, with approximately 300 jobs moved in September as a result of a relocation of a distribution warehouse from Deeside to Warrington. During July 2006, 300 workers took industrial action with the support of their union, blocking several lorries from entering the depot. Despite this, the transfer to Warrington took place and the new warehouse was later outsourced to DHL in April 2007.

In January 2009, Iceland announced that it would buy 51 stores in the UK from the failed Woolworths Group chain, three days after the final 200 Woolworths stores closed their doors for the last time.

In April 2009, Iceland announced plans to close its appliance showrooms by September 2009 to concentrate on food retailing

Iceland's sales for the year ended 27 March 2009 were £2.08 billion, a 16% increase on the previous year, with net profits of £113.7 million.

Ireland

In 1996, six stores were opened in Dublin and one in Letterkenny and they all closed down in 2005.

In November 2008, a store reopened in Ballyfermot in Dublin, after Iceland agreed a franchise deal with an Irish cash and carry company, AIM.

Promotions

The company has recently made large scale changes to the kinds of promotions it offers on products. In the past "Buy One Get One Free" and Meal Deals (a selection of products for a set price) were common in stores, although these have now been reduced and replaced with products offering bigger packs at the original prices. The pricing system has also been changed with many products having their prices rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 25p (i.e. £1.29 becomes £1.25), this is known as Clear Cut Prices and aims to simplify the pricing system.

2006 also saw a huge surge in 'Home Delivery' promotion. This service is now one of the main focuses of the company. When a customer spends £25 or more on their shopping they have the option of free same-day home delivery.

Bonus Card

On 6 October 2008, Iceland officially launched the Bonus Card, a loyalty card and replacement for the original home delivery card with additional features, after being successfully trialled in other regions of the UK. Customers who register for the new card receive offers and vouchers from time to time, also whenever the card is used in store the customer is entered into a monthly prize draw to win £5,000 in cash, as well as several other prizes, including Trolley Dashes.

The Bonus Card loyalty card scheme and associated databases are being managed by marketing agency The Black Hole, whose other clients include Argos and M&M Direct.

Identity and marketing

The supermarket historically advertised with the slogan Mums Love It, which was changed to Are we doing a deal or are we doing a deal? and Feel the deal in the early 2000s. The new adverts featuring television personality Kerry Katona has seen a return to a slogan more traditionally associated with Iceland - So that's why mums go to Iceland!. Their slogans have often been parodied.

An Iceland supermarket

When the chain bought rival Bejam in 1989, they launched the TV-advertising campaign "Use Our Imagination," which included a powerful song. The campaign was launched so quickly after the takeover that they hadn't time to convert all Bejam stores to the "Iceland" fascia. Because of this in the song for the commercial the singer proclaimed "We're at Bejam's too..."

Iceland staff have recently been given new uniforms. The uniform consists of a red polo-shirt with an orange band on the collar and sleeves, A black nylon jacket with the Iceland logo embroidered on it and black trousers.

Sponsorship

The 2006, 2007 and 2008 series of ITV1 quiz show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! were sponsored by Iceland. This was a major sponsorship deal for the supermarket, and particularly fitting because of Kerry Katona, appearing on the Iceland advertisements; she also therefore appeared on the sponsorship adverts. The celebrity's autobiography appeared for sale in these supermarkets when it first was published. In 2007, former contestant Jason Donovan appeared as well as Kerry Katona and workers of the company had to wear green T-shirts displaying the TV shows' logo for the duration of the series and associated promotion. Scratch and peel cards were given to customers who spent over £10 in store: prizes included money off products and a holiday in Australia. In 2008, Christopher Biggins is in the sponsorship adverts with Kerry Katona, selling prawns on plastic spoons.

External links

• Iceland