Carrefour

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Carrefour SA
Type	Public (Euronext: CA)
Founded	1957
Headquarters	Paris, Caen (Promodès), France
Key people	José Luis Duran
Industry	Retail
Revenue	€ 74.497 billion (2005)
Operating income	€ ? billion (2005)
Net income	€ 1.436 billion (2005)
Employees	436,000 (2005)
Website	www.carrefour.com

Carrefour SA (Euronext: CA) (IPA: /karfur/) is an international hypermarket chain founded in France, with a global network of outlets. It is the second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue and sales figures after Wal-Mart. Carrefour operates mainly in the European Union, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, but also has shops in North Africa and Asia. Carrefour means cross-roads in French[1].

Contents 1 History 2 Carrefour around the world in March 2006 2.1 Americas 2.2 Asia 2.3 Africa 2.4 Europe 3 Criticism 4 Former countries 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] History

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

Marcel Fournier and Louis 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 in 1962 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris in France.^{[citation needed]}

In April 1976, Carrefour launched a private label Produits libres (free products -- libre meaning free in the sense of liberty as opposed to gratis) line of fifty foodstuffs, including oil, biscuits, milk, and pasta, at substantially lower prices. The new brand's popularity led critics on the political right to charge that Carrefour was undermining capitalism by acclimating 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 like Edmond Maire, Georges Marchais, François Mitterrand and Georges Séguy.

[edit] Carrefour around the world in March 2006

[edit] Americas

• Carrefour is the first operator in Latin America, with a presence in 4 countries: Brazil, Argentina,Colombia, and the 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	462	28	114	320
Brazil	1975	337	105	35	201
Colombia	1998	35	35	-	-
Dominican Republic	2000	1	1	-	-

[edit] Asia

• Carrefour was the first international retailer to establish a presence in Asia in 1977, with a presence in 6 countries. Carrefour also operates in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in a joint venture with Majid al Futtaim [2].

Country	First store	Number of stores	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters
People's Republic of China	1995	307	73	-	234
Taiwan	1989	45	45	-	-
Indonesia	1998	21	21	-	-
Malaysia	1994	10	10	-	-
Qatar	2000	3	3	-	-
Saudi Arabia	2003	3	3	-	-
Singapore	1997	2	2	-	-
South Korea	1996	31	-	-	-
Thailand	1996	49	23	-	-

[edit] Africa

Country	First store	Number of stores	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters
Algeria	2006	1	1	-
Egypt	2000	3	1	-
Tunisia	2001	1	1	-	-

08:54, 21 December 2006 (UTC)Grpapado

[edit] Europe

• Carrefour is the market leader in Europe

Country	First store	Number of stores	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters	Convenience Stores	Cash & Carry
Belgium	2000	135	56	79	-	-	-
Bulgaria	(2008)[3]	-	-	-	-	-
France	1960	1,688	191	603	786	-	108
Greece	1991	495	20	151	272	52	-
Italy	1993	461	51	239	-	155	16
Poland	1997	103	42	73	-	-	-
Portugal	1992	303	7	-	296	-	-
Romania	2000	7	7	-	-	-	-
Spain	1973	2,119	139	81	1,899	-	-
Switzerland	2001	9	9	-	-	-	-
Turkey	1993	433	13	71	349	-	-
Cyprus	2005	9	5	4	-	-	-
Europe	1960	5,832	505	1,364	3,602	207	124

Cyprus

In 2005 Carrefour entered the Cypriot market through the 100% take over of Chris Cash & Carry a local supermarket chain. [4] [5] [6]

[edit] Criticism

Carrefour has been criticized numerous times for the treatment of its workers throughout the world. For example, in Doha, Qatar, it brings in workers from developing nations, such as the Philippines, and houses them in a walled compound in which workers typically live six to an apartment, sharing one kitchen and one bathroom. Carrefour holds onto their passports and imposes a curfew at night, with a guard at the gate to catch violators. Employees work 6 days a week, and minimal health insurance is provided; anything more than a basic check-up, including the deductible, is not covered, and at the standard pay scale of 1500-1700 Qatari Riyals a month (approximately USD 425.00 - 465.00), a medical emergency could easily wipe out two months earnings. At the City Center Mall location in Doha, workers will be scheduled to work 5 pm to midnight, then be expected back the next day at 7 am. Management will also "split" an employee's schedule, meaning he or she has to come in, work four hours, leave, then come back later in the day to work four more.[7] Also, the workers are allowed a one hour break, but managers will schedule their break as early as two hours into the shift, meaning they will have to eat "lunch" as early as 10 am and work non-stop for the following six hours.[8] Employees are not allowed private vehicles, so they must rely on the company shuttle bus. The worst criticism has come for Carrefour's "sub-contractor" sweatshops in Haiti, where workers earn as little as USD .60 a day, and no more than $3.[9] Carrefour has also received criticism for engaging in sweatshop practices. [10]

In Malaysia, Carrefour refuses to take faulty goods returned to them at their customer service desk and instead directs customers to send the goods to third-party service centers, in apparent violation of the law requiring the supplier themselves to remedy such defects.

The Carrefoure store in Hangzhou has been known for selling goods well beyond their expiry date.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 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 1990s, 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 to AEON group. But stores still use the Carrefour name and brand.
• Korea-In 2006, Carrefour was selling its 32 hypermarkets to E-Land. The stores are being re-branded as Homever, a chain of supermarkets specialized on home furnishing.
• 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. Subsequent outlets were opened at Merry Hill, Dudley, Patchyway in Bristol. All stores were later sold to Asdaand converted to supercenter formats, except Merry Hill.
• United States-Carrefour opened hypermarkets in Philadelphia and Voorhees Township, New Jersey, in 1988 and 1992 respectively. Both stores closed in 1993. Some associates wore roller skates to facilitate moving about the large building. The Voorhees 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.
• A fully functional, ready-to-open Carrefour hypermarket in Bali, Indonesia is currently having problems prior to opening in March, 2007 due to convoluted legal disputes with the Balinese Tribal Regencies.

[edit] See also

• European Retail Round Table
• List of French companies
• Carrefour Laval
• Carrefour Marinopoulos

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Yahoo! - Carrefour SA Company Profile

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