1981 ; 35 years ago headquarters auckland new zealand number of locations 184 1 key people dave chambers managing director products groceries owner progressive enterprises number of employees 18 000 parent woolworths limited website countdown.co.nz countdown is a new zealand full service supermarket chain and subsidiary of progressive enterprises itself a subsidiary of australia s woolworths limited . it is the largest single supermarket chain in new zealand in terms of number of stores though the four square chain owned by co operative rival foodstuffs with operations mainly as grocery stores or smaller supermarkets in rural communities is larger with 275 franchised shops . contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 logistics 3 competition 4 marketing and branding 4.1 countdown kids hospital appeal 4.2 food donations 5 loyalty schemes 5.1 onecard 5.1.1 onecard visa 5.2 fuel discounts 6 private label brands 7 maori language week 8 see also 9 references 10 external links history edit foodtown central auckland 2008 the same building rebranded as countdown in 2010 in may 1981 the first countdown market opened at northlands mall in papanui christchurch . this business was established by rattrays wholesale . the rattrays wholesale group included the rattrays cash and carry warehouses tobacco vans now known as the red arrow distributors fleet and also included the supervalue group of franchised supermarkets and now operating as supervalue freshchoice . in 2006 foodland associated limited fal australia purchased the countdown rattrays business . this acquisition was then followed by gaining a majority share holding in progressive enterprises limited including general distributors limited trading as the foodtown . in october 1993 foodland associated limited fal bought the majority shareholding in progressive enterprises from coles myer and shortly after bought all remaining public shares and delisted progressive from the new zealand stock exchange . with this purchase progressive enterprises became the parent company for a number of fal brands . progressive enterprises consisted of foodtown supermarkets countdown georgie pie rattrays and supervalue . on 17 june 2002 progressive enterprises ltd bought woolworths nz ltd from hong kong based owners dairy farm group . the sale saw progressive s supermarket brands foodtown countdown 3 guys supervalue and freshchoice joined by woolworths big fresh and price chopper . as a result pel increased its share of the nz grocery market to approximately 45 % . in 2003 progressive closed its auckland and christchurch distribution centers and rehired the redundant workers . during the period of 1993 2005 countdown changed from a foodmarket type format offering mainly groceries to a full service discount supermarket . the stores vary in size due to the consolidation of brands after the merger with woolworths nz ltd. a number of big fresh price chopper and 3 guys stores were rebranded to countdown stores during after this merger . on 24 november 2005 australian company woolworths limited purchased progressive enterprises limited from foodland associated limited . in october 2006 progressive enterprises announced a discount fuel scheme with gull petroleum and shell to offer discounts on petrol when shoppers spend 40 or more in their woolworths foodtown or countdown stores . this scheme was similar to the one their parent company woolworths limited offered in australia . the australian competition and consumer commission investigated 2 whether this activity was anti competitive the result of which was an undertaking by the parent company to change its methods of offering fuel discounts in australia . foodstuffs stores in new zealand also offered fuel discounts at bp and their own new world and pak nsave fuel sites . in july 2008 onecard which could previously only be used at woolworths and foodtown was extended to countdown . in september 2009 progressive enterprises announced it would re brand all its foodtown and woolworths stores to countdown as stores were refurbished . 3 the final foodtown and woolworths to re brand were browns bay and meadowlands respectively both on 14 november 2011 . a single woolworths outlet continues to operate at mount maunganui s bayfair shopping centre . 4 the store was not rebranded because a countdown already existed at the centre . 5 the suburb of johnsonville wellington and the city of upper hutt in northern wellington region both have two countdown stores less than 150 m 160 yd apart the result of one pre existing countdown store and one larger rebranded woolworths store . both stores stock a similar range of products . the pre exitsing countdowns still have the old style logo but the rebranded woolworths have the new style logo . the same situation occurs in napier whereby there are two countdown stores directly across the road from each other . on 10 december 2012 countdown launches its first countdown branded in store pharmacy . 6 on 3 november 2014 countdown began selling low cost life and travel insurance through a deal with insurance giant cigna . 7 on 1 august 2016 countdown began its partnership with bp and caltex through the aa smartfuel program to offer fuel discounts alongside gull replacing its partnership with z. 8 operations edit as of 2016 there are a total of 183 countdown supermarkets operating throughout the north and south islands of new zealand . 1 major store operations are handled in progressive enterprises s head office in mangere auckland . the stores are divided in between 10 areas . each area has an area manager and all areas are supported by a national operations manager . previously the areas were split in north and south regions with 5 areas each . pricing and specials are divided into two regions north island and south island . internally the north island region is further subdivided into two sub divisions upper and lower . countdown also provides new zealand wide online grocery delivery excluding waiheke island services through its online grocery shop . new generation countdowns those that have been built or refurbished since mid 2008 have 30 % of their retail floor space dedicated to fresh foods a wider range of products than older countdown stores up to 30 000 items 9 and heating and refrigeration systems that are more energy efficient and sustainable than older countdown stores . logistics edit all grocery items and general merchandise is supplied to stores through one of four distribution centres at the head office in auckland national dc one in wiri upper north island dc in palmerston north lower north island and in christchurch south island . deliveries are made daily to stores . 10 chilled and frozen goods are supplied to stores by third party logistics operator versacold . they operate three distribution centres in auckland palmerston north and christchurch and deliver to stores daily . 10 produce is supplied to stores by third party freshmax . fruit and vegetables from across new zealand and the world are sent to the three distribution centres in auckland wellington and christchurch where they are shipped to stores daily . however only certain stores receive a sunday delivery . 10 in recent years countdown has moved away from having on site butcheries and have moved to centralised facilities . cabinet ready meat crm pre cut and pre packed meat is supplied to non butchery stores from a central plant in auckland . due to the complications of logistics in shipping crm to the south island all south island countdowns have retained their butcheries . competition edit countdown s main competitors are both owned by new zealand co operative foodstuffs limited the other player in the new zealand supermarket duopoly in the form of full service supermarket chain new world with 137 stores across nz and lower cost food warehouse pak nsave 50 supermarkets mainly concentrated in large urban suburban areas . in terms of pricing countdown generally places in between the two . in a september 2009 consumer magazine survey countdown was placed third in auckland with a basket of 40 brand items costing 136 four dollars above new world and 21 above pak n save . 11 a year earlier in september 2008 a consumer magazine survey placed countdown second in auckland with a basket of 15 private label items costing 38.24 only 0.91 behind fellow progressive brand woolworths the woolworths store in question has since become a countdown and 1.87 ahead of the nearest rival pak n save . 12 marketing and branding edit the current countdown branding was introduced on 21 september 2009 . the word countdown reused the original logo s red colour but with a newly adapted font type . the previous light green background was replaced with a white one and a logo with the shop smarter slogan was added . the logo representing fresh produce is also used by australian woolworths outlets . on stores the slogan is missing and the word countdown is white . the logo and name sit on a dark grey background . on newer countdowns however those built after 2013 the logo and name sit on a dark green background . some older stores still have the old branding which is the lettering countdown in red or orange on either a light or dark green background . shop smarter countdown s current slogan was introduced in mid 2009 to the countdown woolworths and foodtown brands . the new slogan also accompanied the introduction of the smart shopper a series of 60 second twice weekly television segment hosted by richard till . 13 countdown kids hospital appeal edit from august to november every year every countdown store around the country fundraisers to help sick children around the country . some of they ways the raise money include selling wristbands raffles bbqs and staff mufti days . 14 food donations edit in 2011 countdown put a formal structure in place partnering with the salvation army to launch countdown food rescue . this nationwide programme ensures that food that can t be sold but is still fit for consumption is put to good use . they also donate a large trolley full of food from each of their 180 stores every year at christmas . loyalty schemes edit countdown has two major loyalty schemes which it shared with both the woolworths and foodtown brands before they were rebranded to countdown . onecard edit countdown uses a discount and rewards programme called onecard which was introduced in july 2003 . the actual onecard is a standard magnetic stripe card that is loaded into the pos system via the eftpos terminal . countdown s onecard specials are the predominant visible price on member discounted products . the non promotional price is displayed below . 15 onecard visa edit onecard visa is a visa card based on onecard . it is the same as the regular visa cards and has additional rewards features . 16 fuel discounts edit introduced in 2006 countdown supermarkets began offering fuel discounts for transactions of 40 and over as of september 2009 . in august 2016 fuel discounts redeemable at bp caltex and gull petrol stations replaced the former arrangement with shell z. private label brands edit countdown has eight private label brands of which all except signature range and countdown branded products are in common with private label brands of woolworths supermarkets australia . countdown value countdown everyday countdown finest branding for fresh items replacing the old fresh zone brand . woolworths homebrand low cost everyday grocery items signature range everyday grocery items on par with branded products previously owned by fal foodland associated limited in western australia which operated the action supermarkets supa valu and dewsons . woolworths select signature range select high end grocery products woolworths naytura woolworths freefrom free from gluten grocery items for specific dietary requirements macro macro free range macro organic grocery items for specific dietary requirements woolworths essentials general merchandise maori language week edit countdown has supported maori language week since 2010 and has actively encouraged new zealanders to embrace te reo in their everyday shopping . in june 2011 their tokoroa store became the first with both