Kwik Save is a discount supermarket chain in the United Kingdom.
Overview
Most Kwik Save stores are small to medium sized high street supermarkets in districts with low average incomes. Kwik Save has been owned by Somerfield for several years. The chain has been struggling and in 2004 Somerfield announced the sale or closure of all of the stores in Scotland. There are still several hundred stores in the rest of the United Kingdom, but the chain is finding it hard to compete with its larger rivals such as Tesco and ASDA which have introduced their own discount lines since the 1990s and enjoy ever greater advantages in terms of economies of scale.
Single Branding
Unlike many other supermarkets, Kwik Save only uses one type of packaging for all its products. Products are provided in simple packaging bearing the company name or logo, simple colours (white and red for example), and the contents of the product in bold lettering. By providing a wide range of own brand products, the store aims to appeal to the budget-concious shopper, limiting choice to the low cost in-store brands and reducing temptation from extravagently packaged alternatives. The same simple branding applies equally to the store's frontage, shelving and so on.
