Who is Supercheap Auto

In 2013, Supercheap Auto won Canstar Blue’s customer satisfaction award for auto stores. They are one of the biggest automotive retailers in Australia. We take a look at why customers we surveyed were so happy with their stores.

The people behind the counter

Supercheap Auto was founded in 1972 by Reg and Hazel Rowe as an automotive accessories mail-order business. Just two years later in 1974, the business was making $1 million a year and had opened a “real” storefront in Brisbane.

Clearly, Reg and Hazel had a good mind for business, but they also knew when to hire people with even more know-how. In 1993 they hired Bob Thorn as Director of Retail Operations, and in just 12 months, he grew the number of stores in operation from 7 to 14. By the time Bob retired in 2006, Supercheap Auto had over 200 stores.

In 2003, Supercheap Auto crossed the waters and opened 7 stores in New Zealand. Over 13,000 customers visited the stores during the first two days of trading – a new record.

Supercheap Auto also runs the CARMA program for driver education and road safety awareness. Supercheap Auto is part of the Super Retail Group family.

How many Supercheap Auto stores are there?

Supercheap Auto currently has over 260 stores trading in Australia and 41 stores trading in New Zealand. You can find your nearest store online.

Things you can buy at a Supercheap Auto store

There are over 10,000 different items available in each store. And with a slogan like, “Everything auto and much, much more!”, you know there’s going to be a lot of variety available. They have everything from camping chairs to first aid kits to sports cameras to Star Wars merchandise.

If you have a Supercheap Auto Club Plus membership, you can also get discounted V8 Supercar race tickets.

Supercheap Auto has been so successful because of a strategy focussing on small items purchased by enthusiastic hobbyists – automotive accessories, sporting aids, fishing gear, etc. Supercheap Auto customers spend about $35 per visit on average according to a Motley Fool report, and will happily buy several inexpensive items for their hobby, even during times of economic crisis.

Products are available in these categories:

• Car accessories
• Car care
• Parts and servicing
• Tools and hardware
• Storage
• 4WD and outdoors
• Gifts and apparel

Auto stores we surveyed

Canstar Blue commissions Colmar Brunton to regularly survey 3,000 Australian consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction. The outcomes reported are the results from customers within the survey group who have purchased a product from an auto store in the last 12 months – in this case, 1,368 people.

The auto store brands we surveyed are:

• Supercheap Auto
• Auto One
• Autobarn
• Repco
• Autopro

About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar Blue’s Content Projects Lead, Dean Heckscher. He’s our resident expert on all things automotive, health & fitness, streaming and more. Dean is also one of Canstar Blue’s customer research report producers, helping to turn complicated subjects into easily-digestible information for our readers. He’s passionate about helping consumers make better-informed purchase decisions on all manner of consumer goods and services.