Carrefour rebrand and food business to drive breakthrough year

Carrefour is expected to focus on a radical overhaul of the branding of its stores and its private label food business in France to deliver a “breakthrough year” for the retailer.

But industry experts still anticipate the French grocery giant’s international division will deliver the bulk of its growth in the long-term and thatRussiaandBulgariacould be its next targets for entering new markets.
Last week, Carrefour chief executive Jose (ACCENT on ‘e’) Luis Duran said: “This is a breakthrough year for Carrefour. The idea is to make the brand work harder, regardless of format. I want more customers in our stores whether that is a hypermarket, supermarket, hard discounter, convenience store or over the internet.”

His clarion call came as Carrefour reported total sales were up 10 per cent to EUR25.57 billion in the three months to December 31. Like-for-like sales rose by 4 per cent.

To help whip its French operation into shape, Carrefour has appointed Gilles Petit, the former country manager of Spain , to the newly-created position of head of its French business.

Carrefour said a re-branding of its multi-format French grocery chains will help it hit its target of achieving sales growth of between 6 per cent and 8 per cent across the group, excluding acquisitions.

As an example of the new strategy, the grocer has already started adding the Carrefour name to its Champion stores in France , which could lead to the Champion fascia disappearing in 3 years.

Planet Retail global research director Bryan Roberts said Carrefour has a big opportunity with its private label business. “They used to have a fairly fragmented private label strategy but they are focusing more on the Carrefour brand,” he said. “They will focus on a three-tier strategy [good, better and best].”

Despite the gradual turnaround of its French business over the past three years, Roberts said Carrefour will find it easier to deliver strong growth overseas, given the encroachment of discounters in France and the “cut-throat” competition between grocers and suppliers in the country.