Carrefour

Carrefour SA () is an international supermarket group, headquartered in France, with a global network of supermarkets. It is the second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue and sales figures after Wal-Mart. ^*

The first Carrefour store opened on June 3, 1957, in the suburbs of Annecy near a crossroads (carrefour in French). As of today, this is the smallest Carrefour store in the world.

The group was created by Marcel Fournier and Louis Defforey and grew into a network from this first sale's point. In 1999 it merged with Promodès, one of his major competitors on the French market.

Marcel Fournier and Louis Defforey had assisted several seminars in the United States animated by "The Pope of modern distribution" Bernardo Trujillo (who had a major influence on other famous French executive like Edouard Leclerc (E.Leclerc), Gérard Mulliez (Auchan), Paul Dubrule (Accor), and Gérard Pélisson (Accor)). Their slogan was "No parking, no business.".

The Carrefour group pioneered the concept of a hypermarket: a large supermarket combined with a department store ("all under the same roof"). They opened the first hypermarket in 1962 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris in France.

In April 1976 Carrefour removed branding from around fifty basic food products (oil, biscuits, milk, pastes...) and sold them at substantially lower prices. These Produits libres, free products (libre meaning free in the sense of liberty as opposed to gratis), caused a sensation. At the time this marketing strategy was considered by some in France to be "anti-capitalist". Jean Mothes, one of the executives of Perrier, wrote in "Investir" that Carrefour did much more to accelerate the swap to a socialist-led government than Edmond Maire, Georges Marchais, François Mitterrand and Georges Séguy joined together. According to some this a Francophone line of thought that the natural instinct of capitalists is never to risk a profit margin by undermining the power of brands, according to other it was perceived easier at that time in France to beat the competition with political discurses than with a competitive advantage, according to a third group of people this was the result of a paranoïd vision of the political situation in many French executives minds. However according to others, this is only the delirium of the over-inflated ego of a borderline executive.

It operates mainly in the European Union, Brazil and Argentina, but also has shops in North Africa and Asia.

Carrefour around the world in June 2005

Americas

Carrefour is the first operator in Latin America, with a presence in 4 countries: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Dominican Republic. Carrefour is active in 3 types of retail distribution : hypermarkets, supermarkets and Hard discounters

Country	First store	Number of stores	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters
Argentina	1982	461	28	114	319
Brazil	1975	336	100	35	201
Colombia	1998	21	21	-
Dominican Republic	1999	1	1	-	-

Asia

Carrefour was the first international retailer to establish a presence in Asia in 1989, with a presence in 7 countries. Carrefour also operates in the United Arab Emirates in a joint venture with Majid al Futtaim ^*.

Country	First store	Number of stores	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters
People's Republic of China	1995	270	64	8	212
Taiwan (Republic of China)	1989	36	36	-	-
South Korea	1996	31	31	-	-
Indonesia	1998	18	18	-	-
Malaysia	1994	8	8	-	-
Singapore	1997	2	2	-	-
Thailand	1996	22	22	-	-

Europe

Carrefour is leader in Europe

Country	First store	Number of stores	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters	Convenience Stores	Cash & Carry
Belgium	2000	505	56	261	-	188	-
France	1960	3704	216	1024	650	1650	156
Greece	1991	631	16	135	337	143	-
Italy	1993	1277	41	405	-	813	18
Poland	1997	100	31	69	-	-	-
Portugal	1992	387	7	-	380	-	-
Romania	2000	6	6	-	-	-	-
Spain	1973	3010	137	176	2668	-	29
Switzerland	2001	11	11	-	-	-	-
Turkey	1993	307	12	7	288	-	-
Europe	1960	9947	542	2077	4323	2794	203

Former countries

Chile

In 2004, Carrefour sold its 8 hypermarkets in Chile to D&S.

Czech Republic and Slovakia

In September 2005, Carrefour sold to Tesco (the biggest UK retailer) 11 stores in the Czech Republic and four in Slovakia. Tesco paid €57.4 million as well as its stores in Taiwan. Carrefour had opened its first store in 1998 in Czech Republic and in 2000 in Slovakia.

Hong Kong

In the late 1990's, Carrefour moved out of Hong Kong after complaints from manufacturers about selling products (especially electronics) at prices far below those its competitors had. Carrefour previously had stores in Tsuen Wan and Heng Fa Chuen.

Japan

In 2005, Carrefour sold its 8 hypermarkets.

Korea

In 2006, Carrefour is selling its 32 hypermarkets to E-Land.

Mexico

In March 2005, Carrefour sold its 29 hypermarkets in Mexico to Chedraui. Carrefour had opened its first store in 1995 in Mexico.

United Kingdom

Carrefour had several hypermarkets in the UK until the 1980s. The first of these was opened in the early 1970s in Caerphilly, South Wales. The store was demolished and rebuilt as an ASDA Supermarket during the 1990s.

Other Carrefour hypermarkets were located at Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, West Midlands, Cribbs Causeway near Bristol, Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire, Swindon, the MetroCentre in Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, and at the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, Dudley, West Midlands. These stores were sold to Gateway (later Somerfield) and have changed hands again. All are now ASDA Wal-Mart Supercentres, apart from the store at Merry Hill which is an ASDA Supermarket.

United States

Carrefour had hypermarkets in Philadelphia and Berlin Township, New Jersey, for about five years. Both stores closed in 1993. The stores required a $0.25USD deposit for the use of a shopping cart. Some associates wore roller skates to facilitate moving about the large building. The Berlin location now houses a Kohl's department store, a Raymour and Flanigan furniture store, and a Marshalls discount clothing store, while the Philadelphia location houses a Wal-Mart and a few tiny stores.

External links

CAC 40 | Companies of France | Supermarkets of Belgium | Supermarkets of France | Supermarkets of Romania

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