No frills
This article is about the marketing concept "no frills." For other uses see No-frills (disambiguation)No-frills or
no frills is the term used to describe any service or product for which the non-essential features (or frills) have been removed. An example is free drinks on
airline journeys. Common products and services for which no-frills brands exist include
airlines,
supermarkets,
holidays and
automobiles. They operate on the principle that if you take away the frills, you get lower prices.
No-frills supermarkets are recognisable by their store design and business model.
*They do not decorate aisles or even fill shelves. Instead, pallets of the products on offer are simply parked alongside the aisles, and customers picking up products will gradually empty them. When all items on a pallet have been sold, they are replaced. Prices are given on plain labels.
*
Queueing at the
checkout is relatively common, as staffing levels reflect average demand rather than peak demand. At actual peak times, customers often have to wait.
*
Shopping bags are charged for, as they are seen as a frill. Thus many shoppers put their shopping in the old
cardboard boxes that the products came in, put it directly in their
trolleys, re use old bags, or buy shopping bags at a low fee e.g. 3
p/5
c. Some low cost stores (such as
Kwik Save in the
United Kingdom) have aborted this policy due to complaints from customers.
*They work on the principle that in most supermarkets, 20% of products on sale account for 80% of what people buy. Therefore, they only stock the most commonly sold products.
*They only take
cash and
debit cards (although this has changed in many stores over the years due to the high usage of credit cards).
*They only open at peak times i.e. 0900-1800 Monday to Saturday.
*They often do not serve
branded items.
*The
trolleys have a coin-operated slot, to ensure that the trolleys are kept on site.
*They usually lack
butcher,
bakery and
deli counters.
*Staff (or even the managers) sometimes do the cleaning.
Examples of no-frills supermarkets are:
*
Save-A-Lot (
United States).
*
Lidl (
Austria,
Belgium,
Czech Republic,
Denmark,
Finland,
France,
Germany,
Greece,
Hungary,
Ireland,
Italy,
Norway,
Poland,
Portugal,
Slovakia,
Spain,
Sweden,
The Netherlands &
United Kingdom).
*
Aldi (
Australia,
Austria,
Belgium,
Denmark,
France,
Germany,
Ireland,
Luxembourg,
Poland,
Portugal,
Slovenia,
Spain,
Switzerland,
The Netherlands,
USA, &
United Kingdom).
*
Franklins (also sells the "No Frills" generic product range) (
Australia)
*
No-Frills (
Canada).
*
Bónus (
Iceland).
*( No Frills Supermarkets Incorporated of Omaha Nebraska) (Nebraska and Iowa).
*Netto (Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland).
*Cassa
, a subsidiary of the K-Kauppa chain (Finland).
*Alepa
, a subsidiary of the S-market chain) (Finland).
*Denner (Switzerland) used to be a no-frills retailer, but has started polishing its image.
*Pak'n Save (New Zealand)
*Usave''', a subsidiary of the
Shoprite chain (
South Africa,
Angola,
Ghana,
Malawi,
Swaziland and
Namibia)
No-frills airlines are airlines that offer low fares but eliminate all unnecessary services.
See
low-cost carrier and
Low-cost, low-fare airline for further details.
No-frills holidays (vacations in
American English) are holidays which, like no-frills airlines, do not include unnecessary services such as:
*
in-flight meals
*travel
representatives
*
transfers between the airport and the hotel
*entertainment
*luxury accommodation Such holidays usually have a simple fare scheme, in which fares typically increase during peak seasons, and also as more people sign up for the holiday. This rewards early reservations, and is known as "
yield management".
Examples of no-frills holiday companies are:
*Just, part of the Thomson/
TUI group.
In the United States, a no-frills automobile model typically has a minimum of convenience equipment, a less powerful engine and spartan trim.
Frequently, these models represent the lowest-priced version of a larger selection of more lavishly equipped and trimmed models of that same car. Often, the less-expensive models are sold with a
manual transmission and have a shorter options list.
One of the more famous no-frills cars was the
Studebaker Scotsman, which was on sale from
1957 to
1958. These cars came with a low-grade cloth-trimmed front seat and contained only a driver's side sunvisor, no door armrests and painted trim (in lieu of chrome trim); even routine convenience items, such as a
cigarette lighter and
dome light were deleted. Buyers were allowed to buy only a low-cost
heater and a few other trim and convenience items from a short options list; a
radio was not offered as an option on this model (unlike
Studebaker's more expensive models).
Other examples of American no-frills cars include the
Chevrolet Biscayne,
Ford Custom 500, and
Plymouth Fury I.
During the gasoline crisis of the 1970s, many American automakers began offering no-frills models on their compact lines of cars (such as the
Ford Pinto MPG, and
Plymouth Duster "Feather Duster"). As before, these models usually had spartan trim (vinyl seats with rubber floor covering); fewer convenience items than the more expensive models (i.e. no cigarette lighter); lighter-weight components (such as
aluminum on various engine, body and suspension components); and a manual transmission.
Most no-frills cars are sold to fleet buyers (such as taxi companies or police departments), although anyone can buy one if price, fuel economy, and basic low-cost transportation are the primary objectives.
The concept of a no-frills car in the European market has only just been beginning with the
Dacia Logan and the
Volkswagen Fox.
Other examples of no-frills companies include cinemas (easyCinema), bus companies (
easyBus,
Megabus), food ranges (
Tesco Value,
Wal-mart/
Asda SmartPrice), mobile phone companies (easyMobile, Telmore) and hotels (
easyHotel,
Hotel Formule 1,
Holiday Inn).
