Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Progressive Enterprises

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Type
  
Subsidiary

Website
  
www.progressive.co.nz

Number of employees
  
18,000

Industry
  
Retail

Founded
  
1949

Parent organization
  
Woolworths Limited


Products
  
Countdown, Freshchoice, SuperValue

Revenue
  
NZ$4,957 million (2008-9)

Operating income
  
NZ$208 million (2008-9)

Headquarters
  
Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand

Subsidiaries
  
Countdown, FreshChoice, SuperValue, General Distributors Limited, Woolworths Ltd

Progressive enterprises new warehouse opening


Progressive Enterprises is the second largest grocery company in New Zealand (behind Foodstuffs), with a revenue of NZ$4,957 million for the year to June 2009. Alongside Foodstuffs, Progressive Enterprises forms part of the New Zealand supermarket duopoly.

Contents

Progressive Enterprises Limited was previously owned by the Western Australian Supermarket Group FAL - Foodland Associated Limited which operated Action Supermarkets, Supa Valu Supermarkets and Dewsons Supermarkets. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Australia's Woolworths Limited.

History

  • 1948: Progressive Enterprises was established in 1949 by the Picot Family
  • 1961: Progressive Enterprises became the parent company to Foodtown Supermarkets Limited.
  • 1974: Albert Gubay opens the first 3Guys store. Progressive purchased the chain in 1987, and rebranded or closed them throughout the 1990s with the store in Hillcrest, Hamilton being one of the last when it closed in January 1998.
  • 1988: Progressive Enterprises became part of Australian business Coles Myer
  • 1992: Coles Myer relaunched Progressive Enterprises onto the New Zealand stock exchange as a public company.

    • On 25 May 2005, it was announced that Woolworths, one of Australia's largest retailers, would be purchasing Progressive along with 22 Action stores in Australia. The deal was worth approximately NZ$2.5 billion and culminated in the official transfer of assets on 24 November 2005.

    In 2006, company workers at three distribution centres initiated industrial action in an attempt to win a collective employment agreement and pay rise. The company responded by suspending grocery distribution centre operations and allowing suppliers to send stock directly to supermarkets.

    Also in 2006, the company was awarded the Roger Award For The Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in New Zealand.

    On 15 August 2007, it was announced that all Progressive Enterprises employees on youth rates or under the age of 18 will now all get paid adult rates which in some cases can be up to an 80% pay increase. The average pay is around $13.50 from $9.00.

    Store brands

    Progressive runs the following grocery store chains:

  • Countdown: 171 supermarket stores
  • SuperValue: 41 stores - convenience supermarket stores, run as a franchise
  • FreshChoice: 19 stores - Higher quality supermarket with a large range, run as a franchise

    • It operates online grocery shopping in the name of Countdown.

    It operates one Woolworths supermarket in Mount Maunganui.

    The Foodtown brand was phased out in early 2012. In August 2011, Progressive won a prestigious NZ Marketing award.

    Former store brands

  • Gubays
  • 3 Guys
  • Big Fresh
  • Price Chopper
  • Georgie Pie
  • Foodtown
  • Woolworths

    • Product brands

  • Woolworths Select
  • Home Brand
  • Naytura
  • Freefrom
  • FreshZone
  • Macro
  • Essentials

    • Former product brands

  • Signature Range
  • Basics
  • No Frills

    • References

    Progressive Enterprises Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA