Moving beyond its IGA brand, Metcash is making a play at the low-cost, bulk-buy market with its latest venture Supa Valu – a range of warehouse-style supermarkets that showcase products by the pallet, as well as featuring local butchers and bakers.With the first three stores launching across New South Wales and Victoria over the last year, Supa Valu targets a growing segment of Australians looking to find ways to cut their weekly food costs, as well as those overwhelmed by the options presented at major supermarkets.According to Metcash’s head of Supa Valu Steven Stewart, the business came about as an effort to deliver a simple, affordable grocery experience for disconnected shoppers. “If you go into a [typical supermarket], there are so many messages that we’re trying to communicate to shoppers,” Stewart told Inside Retail. “It’s a bit out of control – from car insurance, to mobile phones, or the next multibuy deal you can get. I think customers are responding really well to Supa Valu, because it does what it says on the tin. There’s the product, there’s the price, and there are no bells and whistles.”And while the first three stores have launched, and there are plans for more to potentially open, Stewart said he doesn’t expect to see hundreds of Supa Valu stores across the country. Instead, the business will seek to grow organically, when and where new stores make sense, rather than expanding for the sake of growth.Keep it simpleCreated in collaboration with McCartney Design, Supa Valu not only feels different to a traditional supermarket, it looks different as well. Pallets of products are placed on a largely empty concrete floor, giving customers the chance to buy in bulk, while in-house butchers make up cuts of meat based on what the business has secured. According to McCartney Design’s creative director Gary McCartney, Supa Valu’s customer journey is a variation of the traditional supermarket visit. Beyond offering fresh fruits, vegetables and protein up front where customers enter the store, Supa Valu also highlights ‘meal makers’, products such as sauces or key ingredients, which can help to cut down on confusion for customers and make the act of planning meals easier. “We’re literally putting pallets in front of customers, whether it be tuna fish or toilet paper, and that creates more space for big trolleys, so people are actually buying more of less – there are fewer SKUs than a conventional supermarket,” McCartney told Inside Retail. “That’s where the warehouse aesthetic comes from, we’re keeping it very simple.”In taking this simple approach, Supa Valu is not only able to keep prices down for its customers, but also keeps the cost of its operations down as well – two things that are increasingly important in today’s retail environment. “We noticed no one else in the market was really delivering a simple supermarket experience, and it suits us really well,” Stewart said. “I think it’s really critical that every retailer finds a way they can be themselves, while also giving their customers what they want.”Inflation bites both sidesSupa Valu’s wider debut comes at a time when the cost of living is rising as a result of supply chain disruptions caused by international factors, and Australians are being warned that inflation is likely to hit 7 per cent by the end of the year, driving the cost of everyday items, mortgages and petrol prices even higher.Low-cost supermarket Aldi has signalled further price rises are inevitable across the wider industry as its own costs go up, though it will aim to remain more affordable than its rivals Coles and Woolworths.According to Australian Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, things are going to get worse before they get better.“A lot of people are living paycheque to paycheque, [and] inflation will be devastating because it’s getting harder and harder for them to substitute things out of their household budgets,” Chalmers said last week.Many of Australia’s lowest paid workers benefitted from a 5.2 per cent increase to the minimum wage just a few weeks ago, but inflation is expected to outstrip that within months. It makes sense that, under financial pressure, more Australians will start looking for ways to cut costs – and after nice-to-haves like Netflix, the weekly grocery bill is likely to be next in line.In a recent survey by McKinsey & Company, 80 per cent of respondents said they were concerned about rising inflation, and nearly 45 per cent said they have already decreased their spending in response, signalling a broad shift towards value-based purchases.