Carrefour is one of the biggest distributions group in the world. Since its creation in 1959, Carrefour has always innovated to build a strong reputation, a good image and a clear strategy of development.
With the globalization, Carrefour has exported its model in other countries to diversify its earnings. Carrefour has understood quickly the importance of going global. Today, Carrefour is implanted in 33 countries like China, Poland, Brazil, Spain, and Argentina. Europe, Asia and Latin America are the three big markets for Carrefour. With the merger with Promodès in 1999, Carrefour became the second largest distribution company in the World, the first in Europe and the second in France (domestic market).
How did Carrefour become one of the most important distribution groups in the world? What is its strategy to implant supermarkets, hypermarkets globally? What are the countries in which the strategy has succeeded, and the countries in which it has failed?
[...] 1999: Merger between Carrefour and Promodes. Carrefour Group becomes the second distribution group in the World. • 2000 till 2006 2000: First hypermarket in Japan. 2001: Carrefour opens seventeen gas stations in France. 2006: First hypermarket in Cyprus. 2) Activity and finance To show what Carrefour is during 2006 at the national level and at the international level, we have to take figures. • Figures about turnover Since the opening of its first hypermarket abroad (Belgium in 1969), Carrefour has shown that to have hypermarkets in other countries, permit to resist to the strong competition. [...]
[...] On a international scale, we can say that Wall Mart is the main competitor for Carrefour. Thus Carrefour has to adapt its strategy in the worldwide in order to reach success in its business. As we could have seen in our file, the famous retailer adapts its policy in several countries by being aware of the local customs and practices. The group keeps improving its International business strategy in this economic gloom in order to penetrate other markets and develop its brand. [...]
[...] In the 90's the international development of Carrefour was very important. • Figures about Carrefour shops | |December | | |2008 | |In the world |15 430 | |Hypermarkets |1 302 | |France |228 | |Europe |494 | |America |288 | |Asia |292 | |Supermarkets |2 919 | |Hard discount|6 252 | |Convenience |4 813 | |Cash and |144 | |Carry | | We can compare these figures above. We can notice that hypermarkets represent only 8, 4% of the shops of Carrefour but realizes 57% of turnover. [...]
[...] China is an interesting example of success for Carrefour. It owns 118 hypermarkets since 2007. They gave up supermarkets to keep only the hypermarkets and maxidiscounts (250 Dia stores). The key points of their success are: ● Local partners (retailing, finance, real estate) ● 70% of the products are come from Asia ● « Carrefour Global Sourcing Asia » : it gives the possibility to the group to certify to customers the best products at the best price, at the best moment ● Food security : strict quality controls and information for the consumer (to use the product and nutritional) ● A good brand image: quality, security of products; think ahead environment and sanitary risks, improvement in fair trade. [...]
[...] 2) National scale (Europe) - Metro AG is a German retailer specialized on the « cash & carry » market. It is present in the supermarket thanks to Extra and Real, in Germany and east European countries. Metro's implantations are 4 times less important than Carrefour's, but the group manages to get a €64 337 millions turn over and a growth of 4% each year. Thanks to these results, Metro is the fourth international retailer group. - Ahold. Company was created in 1973 in Amsterdam. [...]
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