PLUS | |
Formerly | Plusmarkt |
Company type | Coöperatie uitsluiting van aansprakelijkheid ( Co-operative society exempt from liability) |
Industry | Retailing |
Founded | 1988 |
Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 270 shops (2020) |
Area served | Netherlands |
Revenue | €2.61 billion (2019) |
Members | 259 shop owners (2020) |
Website |
www |
De Sperwer U.A., whose members trade as PLUS (Dutch pronunciation: [plʏs]) under licence from PLUS Holding B.V., is a Dutch co-operative supermarket chain headquartered in Utrecht. Its 259 members operate, as ‘independent entrepreneurs,’ 270 stores across the Netherlands. [1] In 2019 the members had total revenues of €2.6 billion [2] and an overall 6.5% share of the Dutch grocery market. [3]
The PLUS formula was created in 1988 as Plusmarkt, replacing De Sperwer's previous 4 = 6 supermarket chain. In 2001, Plusmarkt was rebranded as PLUS. Online shopping, with the option of home delivery or in-store collection, was introduced at some branches in 2015.
In 2006, as part of a consortium takeover with Sligro, De Sperwer purchased eighty branches of Edah from Laurus and converted them all to PLUS. [4] De Sperwer also unsuccessfully attempted to take over Super de Boer and Emté in 2009 and 2018 respectively. [5]
On 6 September 2021 it was announced the supermarket chains Plus and Coop have reached an agreement on a merger. The stores will continue under the name Plus, the name Coop will disappear. The combined organization is expected to become operational early next year. [6]
Stores operated under the PLUS brand are owned and operated by 259 ‘independent entrepreneurs’ who are all members of the De Sperwer co-operative. [1] PLUS Holding B.V. licenses the PLUS formula to them and runs large-scale marketing campaigns on their behalf. [7] The chain's market power is increased through membership of the Superunie purchasers’ co-operative. [7] The PLUS organization has its headquarters in Utrecht. It also operates three national and three regional distribution centres. [1]
In a 2013 survey by MarketResponse, PLUS was named ‘most customer-friendly company in the Netherlands.’ [8] It was also ‘most customer-friendly supermarket’ in the same survey in 2018 [9] and 2019. [10]
PLUS has scored highest among Dutch supermarkets in annual surveys by GfK several times: in the meat category each year from 2017 to 2019; [11] [12] in the bread category in 2019; [13] in the corporate social responsibility category each year from 2015 to 2019; [14] and in the wine category each year from 2013 to 2018. [15] [16]