Carrefour is the French word for crossroads
 Based out of Levallois-Perret France
 Selling both groceries and nonfood items
including services as well as goods
 Originators of the Hypermarket
 First international retailer to enter the Asian
market

Worlds largest retail chain with over 15,000
stores worldwide employing around 495,000
employees in 2009
 Worlds third largest retail chain in terms of profit
and the second largest in terms of total revenue
 Carrefour is a publically traded company with
3.52 billion shares
 Ranked 25 in the Fortune Global 500 for 2009

Company was founded by Marcel Fournier and
Dennis Defforey
 Free service was the concept they chose for their
new store
 The first Carrefour opened in 1957 in the French
city of Annecy
 Beating the competition with a basement
opening

The first hypermarket was opened on the
outskirts of Paris in 1963
 Combination of a supermarket and a department
store
 Must have at least 150,000 square feet of floor
space
 35% of the floor space must be used to sell
nonfood goods
 Today Carrefour operates over 200 hypermarkets
in France alone with over 1,200 worldwide

Hypermarket
 Supermarket
 Department store
 Discount store
 Convenient store

Strength
 Strong brand awareness
 Focus on competitive prices
Weakness
 Lack of a deep perception of the consumer
behavior
 Deterioration relationship with local suppliers
Opportunity

Supply more types of stores in areas where it
already has hypermarkets

EEU reveals a steady potential of sales for
Carrefour
Threat

Legislation requires the food wholesalers to offer
the same prices to all the retailers promulgated
by France government

Powerful retailers in E-commerce industry
Overview
7000
Hypermarkets
6475
6000
5000
4000
1000
0
Hard Discount
2949
3000
2000
Supermarkets
4698
1392
120
Convenient
Stores
Cash&Carry
Figure 1 the Number of 5 Types of Stores
Global Comparison of Tesco, Wal-Mart, & Carrefour
45000
40821
40000
35000
Countries
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
Store Number
15634
12061
8500
5000
4813
0
Walmart
Carrefour
Tesco
8775
Revenue/10 million
Overview
First Priority: France
Second priority: G4 countries
(Belgium, Italy, Spain, &
France)
Third Priority: New
merging countries
Sales Percentage
7.5%
12%
Europe
69%
Asia
Latin America

Success Model of Carrefour
Virtuous
Cycle
Failures
Reason in the US: fierce competition
 Reason in Hong Kong: localized laws and
competition
 Reason in South Korea: consumer behavior

Founded
Carrefour
Annecy,
French 1957
Founder
Marcel
Fournier
Denis
Defforey
Jacques
Defforey
Rogers,
Wal-Mart Arkansas, U.S. Sam Walton
(1962)
Tesco
Casino
East
Jack Cohen
London(1919)
1898
Geoffroy
Guichardin
Headquarters
Products
Revenue
Employees
Discount, grocery
US$119.85
Levalloisand convenience
over 495,000
billion
Perret, France stores, cash and
(2009)
(2009)
carry, hypermarkets
Bentonville,
Arkansas,
U.S.
Discount Stores,
Supercenters,
Neighborhood
US$408.21
2,100,000
billion
(2009)
(2009)
Cheshunt,
United
Kingdom
US$100.29
Groceries, consumer
billion
goods, financial
440,000 (2009)
(February
services, telecoms
2010)
Discount, grocery
and convenience
US$42.91
Saint-Étienne,
152,380
stores, cash and
billion
France
(2009)
carry, hypermarkets (2009)
$7.44 billion
Market Capital
$26.59
billion
$34.27 billion
Carrefour
Wal-Mart
Tesco
$197.00 billion
Casino
Retail Industry
2.97%
9.53%
6.94%
Carrefour
Wal-Mart
Tesco
Casino
32.27%
Market Share
Future Trend
 Reduce price and strengthen process efficiently
 E-commerce and online retailing(non-shop):
presents about 2.7% of total retail industry
revenue
 Small single-store and independent retailers are
forced out of the markets
 Product cycles get shorter
Global Issues
2007 Credit Crunch
 Government regulations
 Cross-cultural risk, country risk, currency risk
and commercial risk
 Food security

Short-term Recommendations
Giving Back to the Community
 Improved Employee Moral
 Using Products Made Locally

Long-term Recommendations



In-depth research before entry
Invest more to build the brand recognition
Enhance its perception of the market and the
customers’ demand for their products
Small profits but high volume strategy is
selectively applicable.
 Carrefour frequently failed during expansion,
especially in developed countries.
 The ability to collaboration is imperative.
 The final way to success is to establish a good
relationship with employees and outer entities.
