Carrefour Group

Name and type of company

Carrefour Group is a French international hypermarket chain, with a global network of outlets. Its the second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue ans sales figures after Wal-Mart and the largest in Europe. The group currently operates four main grocery store formats: hypermarkets, supermarkets, hard discount and convenience stores. The Carrefour group currently has over 12,500 stores, either company-operated or franchises. Carrefour operates mainly in the European Union, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia but also has shops in North Africa and Asia.

Carrefour means cross- road in French.

Its headquarters & subdiaries

Carrefours headquarter is located in Levallois-Perret, Paris, France. Levallois-Perret is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.4 km(4 miles) from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.

We may find subdiaries owned by Carrefour in European Union, in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and also in North Africa and Asia:

.Carrefour is the first operator in Latin America, with a presence in 4 countries: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Carreforu is active in 3 of retail distribution: hypermarkets, supermarkets and hard discounters, and is entering the Cash & Carry market in Brazil, after purchase of Atacadão. In these 4 countries, it owns almost 1020 stores, 238 hypermarkets, almost 130 supermarkets and 655 hard discounters.

.Carrefour was the first international retailer to establish a presence in Asia in 1989, when it entered in Taiwanthrough a joint venture with Uni President Enterprises Corporation. It leveraged its experience it had gathered in Taiwan to expand into other Asian markets. Carrefour also operates in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in a joint venture with the Majid al Futtaim. Also, it just opened in Kuwait in the new Avenues mall. In Oman, it was opened in 2003 on the outskirts of the ciry of Muscat. In the Asian countries the group has just almost 530 stores, 250 hypermarkets, 273 discounters(all of them are in Peoples Republic of China) but no even a supermarket.

.In the African continent, the group operates just in 3 countries: Algeria, with just 1 store and 1 hypermarket, Egypt, with 3 stores and 3 hypermarkets, and Tunisia, with 3 hypermarkets,1 hypermarket and 2 supermarkets.

.Carrefour is the market leader in Europe and here are more than half of the stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, hard discounters, cash & carry and convenience stores that it owns all around the world.

History

The first Carrefour store opened on 3 June 1957, in suburban Annecy near a crossroads (carredour in French). Today it is the smallest Carrefour location in the world. The group was created by Marcel Fournier and Denis Defforey and grew into a chain from this first sales outlet. In 1999 it merged with Promodès, known as Continent, one of its major competitors on the French market.

Marcel Fournier and Denis Defforey had attended several seminars in the United States led by The Pope of modern distribution Bernardo Trujillo, who influenced other famous French executives like Édouard 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 and a department store under the same roof. They opened their first hypermarket 15 June 1963 in Saint-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris in France.

In April 1976, Carrefour launched a private label Produits libres (free productslibre meaning free in the same sense of liberty as opposed to gratis) line of fifty foodstuffs, including oil, biscuits, milk, and pasta, sold in unbranded white packages at substancially lower prices. The popularity of these products led critics on the political right to charge that Carrefour was undermining capitalism by acclimation the population to generic (rather than brand name or specialty) foods. In particular, Jean Mothes, an executive at Perrier, wrote in Investir magazine that Carrefour did more to accelerate the change to a socialist-led government than socialist politicians and syndicates like Edmond Maire, Georges Marchais, François Miterrand and George Séguy.