In 1960 Feargal Quinn opened his first shop in Dundalk, when he was just 23. Today, he is the President of a 5,600-person, 19-store chain of supermarkets (estimated annual sales: $700 million). For Superquinn's relatively tiny size, its brand, impact, and ambition are remarkable.
Superquinn is piloting some of the world's most advanced retail technology, including self-scan shopping, multifunction kiosks, digital shelf labels, and mobile checkout technology.

But its most celebrated features are its lowest-tech innovations -- from professionally staffed child-care centers to complimentary umbrellas at the door. Superquinn inspires such intense devotion that many customers say that they drive out of their way -- and past several of its bigger competitors -- to shop there. That translates into market leadership for the privately owned company in its greater-Dublin base, and 9% of Ireland's $11 billion grocery business.

The Superquinn experience is not so much a product of high-concept design principles as it is the result of Quinn's first principle: In every deed, focus on persuading the customer to return. It is what he calls the "boomerang principle."

In a business environment that is becoming more and more sophisticated about connecting with customers, the simplest approach is sometimes the most effective. For Quinn, that means listening.  Superquinn's multichannel "listening system" includes regular customer panels, customer-comment forms, a service desk at the entrance of every store, and formal market research.

Quinn likes to remind business leaders that they should make only five assumptions, which he calls his five lessons in humility: "My customers know more than I do. My employees know more than I do. Neither my employees nor I can be creative all of the time. What I knew yesterday is not enough for today. I'm not responding fast enough for my customer."