SPAR Cameroon opened three more SPAR stores, in the Express format, in collaboration with Ola Energy, bringing the number of stores in the country to six.

Focusing on convenience retailing, SPAR Cameroon’s newest stores are in the capital city, Yaoundé, with the 60m² store in Ahala targeting single households and shoppers on the go whilst the 110m² Messassi store and the 200m² store in Tropicana meet the needs of families. The latest stores were developed taking into account learnings from the SPAR Supermarket which was opened in the capital in 2015. All of the stores in Cameroon offer a good range of SPAR Own Brand product sourced not only locally and regionally but internationally, capitalising on the depth of the range available within SPAR. A very popular product has been the SPAR long life milk which has become a big seller within SPAR Cameroon’s stores.

A completely new concept for Cameroon is the 110m²  SPAR Express forecourt store which was opened at a newly built Ola Energy fuel station in Messassi, targeting middle income shoppers. This forecourt SPAR Express store development was supported by SPAR International, tapping into their expertise in forecourt retailing from around the world but with locally developed communications.

Customer reaction to this newest venture has been very positive, as traditionally forecourt stores only had a limited product offering but the SPAR Express stores have raised the bar in convenience retailing, offering not only food-for-now solutions but also daily grocery items. The inclusion of an instore bakery department complements the food-to-go area whilst the non-food and grocery round out the shopper missions. The popularity of this new retail solution was clear when over 400 transactions were recorded on the opening day, despite a low-key opening campaign.

SPAR Cameroon will be celebrating their fourth anniversary on 21 September and all six of their stores will be participating in the festivities.

Source: SPAR Cameroon

About SPAR Cameroon

The SPAR Partner in Cameroon is L’Atrium SA, was a joint venture between two existing family-owned companies (Dee-lite Sarl and Groupe ARNO) with experience and local expertise in wholesale and retail operations. Subsequently the business continued with one partner.

Africa is a growth market for SPAR and after research into possible partners, SPAR International was pleased to license L’Atrium SA for this market. The first SPAR store in Cameroon opened in 2015 in Douala, the country’s largest city.