Copycat

Copycat

Don't pay for brand name
Type	Public
Industry	Discount store
Predecessor	Copycat's Choice Discount Store
Founded	1984
Founder	Prina N'Massani
Headquarters	Agnannet , Charnea
Number of locations	16,533 stores (2020)
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Clothing, cleaning supplies, household decor, toys, pet supplies, electronics, health and beauty, snacks, seasonal items and groceries
Parent	Plexico
Divisions	Copycat Marketplace
Subsidiaries	Copycat Financial Copycat Logistics and Sourcing Copycat Business Ethics and Integrity Foundation

Copycat Inc. (Tamashek: ⵙⴰⴽⴱⴰⵔ ⵎⵧⵙⵙ, Sakbar Moss) is an international chain of discount variety stores founded and headquartered in Charnea, where it is the leading retail chain. The company was established in Agnannet in 1984 by local entrepeneur Prina N'Massani as a subsidiary of Plexico, a major Charnean plastics company, as a retail outlet for many of the company's consumer products ranging from plastic clothing hangers to lines of children's toys. The original retail store known as the Copycat's Choice quickly grew to open stores across Charnea before expanding to the Nine Cousins and other Scipian nations, and finally other continents to bring Copycat retail stores to their current global presence. Copycat specializes in substitute and inferior goods such as generic brands and so-called copycat products, for which the company itself is named. The company is not only well known for this, but in fact markets itself as a seller of copycat goods with the slogan "Don't pay for brand name". This business practice would be reinforced by parent company Plexico's impingement of its products directly to Copycat retailers, allowing the seller to further undercut other retail outlets. In practice, Copycat operates in a typical fashion for a discount store, securing local suppliers in its countries of operation and buying in bulk to cut down its costs, in addition to its widely touted policy of not purchasing the more expensive name brand products for its stores. Because of its diverse stock and relatively compact store locations, Copycat stores are especially successful in rural areas and smaller towns and cities where they are considered more convenient to the local clientele than major department stores and superstores.

Merchandise

Copycat merchandise is highly variable from location to location, particularly across national borders. This is due to the company's policy of purchasing its products from local manufacturers, a move which reduces logistics costs and helps enforce the company's reputation for low prices for the customer. True to the company's advertising, Copycat stores almost never sell products from large brands due to the added price tag of these products from being associated with such brands. Because of this, Copycat products are generally manufactured by small firms or by bulk manufacturers unwilling or unable to mark up their prices over brand recognition and added value. Copycat's suppliers may fluctuate from time to time because of these policies, while the general categories of merchandise sold at Copycat locations remains stable. These categories include cleaning supplies and household décor, clothing and beauty items, children's toys and pet supplies, certain electronics such as phone chargers as well as a limited selection of over the counter pharmaceuticals such as ibuprofen pain relievers. Some locations have expanded inventory to include snacks and a selection of groceries and staple food items in response to demand from their local clientele. The wide variety of low cost merchandise has made the Copycat business model uniquely successful in rural areas or relatively isolated or peripheral neighborhoods of cities where competition from large dedicated department stores and superstores is low and the local clientele generally as a preference towards thrift making them more responsive to Copycat's marketing strategy.

Subsidiaries

Subsidiary	Business	Executive
Copycat Financial	Financial Services and Payments Processing	Ishel Miszka
Copycat Logistics and Sourcing	Merchandise Acquisition and Transport	Imusa Zuba ult Talati
Copycat Business Ethics and Integrity Foundation	Charitable Organization	Magdalena Djamienka