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It's always a sad, old business when a half-decent idea doesn\u2019t quite work out.\xa0

That's how it appears with Supie, the company and the start-up designed to shake up the supermarket game.\xa0

Now, it's important to remember we don\u2019t know why they have gone into liquidation. Even if a business fails, it may say nothing about the economic environment, it may say nothing about the specific sector it operated in, or then again it may say a lot.\xa0

The reason it's interesting is because the supermarket game has got a lot of attention.\xa0

The supermarket game is a rip-off apparently, they make far too much money, they need upheaval and change, they need a grocery commissioner, they need the whole sector being busted up and the competition to roll on in and offer the cheap prices and choice we all long for.\xa0

Yet, Supie was supposed to be it.\xa0

Is it possible to suggest that the market isn't quite as it has been portrayed?\xa0

One of the ironies with Supie was the suppliers who wanted better prices from them. In that scenario is the tricky business of supplier to customer. Supie says "I'll give you a $1 to sell at $1.50 retail"\xa0

The supplier says "I want $1.25 because that's\xa0what the other guys pay". Can you blame the supplier? No you can't.\xa0

Can you blame the customer for not flocking to Supie? About 50,000 odd did but it clearly wasn\u2019t enough.\xa0

It's sort of like Kiwibank. No one is stopping you banking there, its just not as many do as those at the big four\xa0

Why do we shop at the so-called duopoly when we are told it's not good value? Why are we trying to bust up a market we so openly support?\xa0

What did the grocery commissioner, or the previous Government, do apart from make a lot of noise to save Supie and those who want to be like Supie?\xa0

Is there actually room in the market for another player, or do we just wish there was? When the others come along, why don\u2019t we leap all over them with our business?\xa0

Why, when allegedly we are crying out for competition, doesn\u2019t the competition make a killing?\xa0

That\u2019s a lot of questions for a market or industry, that is apparently so in need of reform.\xa0

Or is it?\xa0

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