Carrefour

Carrefour

Type	Public company
Traded as	Euronext: CA
Industry	Retail
Founded	1 January 1958 (1 January 1958)
Headquarters	Boulogne Billancourt, France
Number of locations	10,102
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Georges Plassat (Chairman and CEO)
Products	Cash & Carry/warehouse club, convenience/forecourt store, discount store, hypermarket/supercenter/superstore, supermarket
Revenue	€104.4 billion (2015)[1]
Operating income	€2.347 billion (2014)[1]
Profit	€1.249 billion (2014)[1]
Total assets	€45.78 billion (2014)[1]
Total equity	€10.23 billion (2014)[1]
Number of employees	381,227 (2015)[1]
Subsidiaries	See below
Website	www.carrefour.com

Carrefour S.A. (French pronunciation: ​[kaʁfuʁ]) is a French multinational retailer headquartered in Boulogne Billancourt, France, in the Hauts-de-Seine Department near Paris.^[2] It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world (with close to 1,600 hypermarkets at the end of 2015), the Second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue (after Walmart, and the second in profit (after Walmart^[3][4]). Carrefour operates in more than 30 countries, in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. Carrefour means "crossroads" and "public square" in French. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.^[5]

History

The first Carrefour store (not a hypermarket) opened on in 1960, within suburban Annecy near a crossroads. (In French, carrefour means crossroads). The group was created in 1958 by Marcel Fournier, Denis Defforey and Jacques Defforey,^[6] who attended and were influenced by several seminars in the United States led by "the Pope of retail" Bernardo Trujillo.

The Carrefour group was the first in Europe to open a hypermarket, a large supermarket and a department store under the same roof. They opened their first hypermarket on 15 June 1963 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris in France.^[7]

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 (crackers and cookies), milk, and pasta, sold in unbranded white packages at substantially lower prices.

In 1999 it merged with Promodès, known as Continent, one of its major competitors in the French market.

In September 2009, Carrefour updated its logo.^[8]

In May 2011, Carrefour reviewed its situation under conditions of stagnant growth and increasing competition in France from rivals including Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, and planned to invest €1.5 billion ($2.1 billion) to change the supermarket with the new concept of Carrefour Planet in Western Europe.

In April 2015, Brazilian businessman Abílio Diniz revealed he was in talks to raise his 5.07 percent stake in Carrefour and has the support of shareholders to take a board seat.^[9]

Operations

French operations

The head office of the Groupe Carrefour is in Boulogne Billancourt in the Paris metropolitan area. Carrefour leased space in the 9,257 square metres (99,640 sq ft) Gecina building at 36 avenue Émile Zola effective 1 December 2010. The complex has 208 parking spaces and has an aluminium facade. E. Naud and L. Poulx designed the building.^[10]

The chain's Carrefour Hypermarket division has its head office in Courcouronnes, Essonne, France, near Évry.^[11]

International operations

Asia

Armenia

Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in Armenia at Yerevan Mall (shopping mall in the southern exit of Yerevan) on 11 March 2015, occupying approximately 10000 square meters.

Bahrain

Carrefour has also opened a franchise owned branch in the Bahrain City Centre in 2008.

China

In 2007, expansion accelerated outside France, particularly in Asia, with the building of 36 new hypermarkets, including 22 in China – where the Group broke its record for store openings in a one-year period. It was the leading foreign retailer in terms of sales figures, until 2008 and has since lost its No. 1 position to RT-Mart. A selection of Carrefour products are sold in Hong Kong via Wellcome and its sister Market Place by Jasons.

Kazakhstan

Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in Almaty on February 11, 2016. So far it is the only one in Kazakhstan.

India

Carrefour operates cash and carry stores in India under the name "Carrefour Wholesale Cash&Carry". The first store opened on 30 December 2010 in Shahdara, Delhi.^[12] This was followed by a store in Jaipur in late 2011 and one in Meerut in October 2012, Agra in December 2013.

Prior to September 2012, India's foreign direct investment (FDI) policy did not allow foreign companies to open multi-brand retail stores in the country. However, 100% FDI in cash-and-carry has been permitted since 1997. As a result, most global retailers, including Carrefour, opted for the cash-and-carry route in India. A new FDI policy, allowing up to 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, came into effect on 20 September 2012.^[13][14]

On 8 July 2014, Carrefour announced that it will shut down its Indian operations and close its five wholesale stores by the end of September.^[15]

Indonesia

Besides Carrefour stores, at the end of November 2011 Carrefour also has 5,670 Alfamart (IDX=AMRT) which mostly minimart, while at the end of December 2010 has 4,812 Alfamart.,^[16][17][18] Carrefour Indonesia is managed by CT corp and its shares owned by Chairul Tandjung. CT corp also developed Transmart, a subsidiary of CT corp operated by Carrefour Indonesia, and it also developed Groserindo, a grocery store also operated by mostly Carrefour.

Iran

In February 2009, Carrefour opened its first store in Iran, called HyperStar^[19] in Western region of Tehran. It opened its second store in Iran in April 2012. This store located in Persian Gulf Complex. It opened the third store in Isfahan located in Isfahan City Center in 2012. Three other stores are to be opened in Eastern region of Tehran, Mashhad and Tabriz.

Iraq

Majid al Futtaim opened the first Carrefour in Erbil in 2011.

Jordan

Carrefour is very popular in Jordan, with tens of locations dotting the capital and the suburbs; the largest and most frequented would be Carrefour: City Mall in the suburb of Dabuk.^[20] Another multi-story complex is about to open near the Sixth Circle. Carrefour Express are smaller sized stores that operate inside smaller shopping areas, best known is Carrefour Express: Swéfiéh Avenue, inside the Avenue Mall in Swéfiéh.

Kuwait

In March 2007, Carrefour opened a store in Kuwait in the Avenues mall.

Lebanon

On 4 April 2013, Carrefour opened a mega store in "Beirut City Center Mall", in the suburb of Beirut. Alwan And Rabaa Group.

Oman

In Oman, Carrefour opened a store in 2001 on the outskirts of the city of Muscat. And in 2008, another branch opened in Qurum. In May 2011 Carrefour opened a store in Sohar. The fourth Carrefour opened in March 2012 at Muscat Grand Mall. The fifth branch opened in Salalah on 24 May 2013. It has officially been confirmed this as the biggest Carrefour in Oman.

Saudi Arabia

Carrefour has 12 franchise operated hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia, with 5 of them being in the capital Riyadh itself.

United Arab Emirates

Carrefour also operates in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in a joint venture with Majid al Futtaim.^[20]

Japan

In 1999 Carrefour's Japanese subsidiary, Carrefour Japan Co. Ltd., opened.^[21] The first Carrefour in Japan opened in a suburb of Tokyo in December 2000. In January and February 2001 new Carrefour stores opened in Tokyo and Osaka. Sales were initially strong, but Miki Tanikawa of The New York Times wrote that "But now, 10 months later, there is barely a line for most of the day at cash registers of most Carrefour stores here. Lengthy aisles of goods ranging from clothes to bicycles are mostly empty. "^[22] On 10 March 2005, the subsidiary's name changed to AEON Marche´ Co., Ltd. after Aeon purchased the Carrefour Japanese division.^[21] The stores were still operated in the Carrefour name until 31 March 2010, when the license expired.^[23]

Pakistan

Carrefour opened up its first store in Lahore, Pakistan in a joint venture with MAF in 2009 under the name of Hyperstar, and a second store in Karachi in 2011, with a third fourth and fifth store under construction in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.

Taiwan

In 1989, Carrefour became the first international retailer to establish a presence in Asia when it entered Taiwan through a joint venture with Uni President Enterprises Corporation. It leveraged the experience it gathered in Taiwan to expand into other Asian markets.

Turkey

Carrefour also operates in Turkey in a joint venture with Sabancı Group under the name CarrefourSA.^[24]

Europe

Albania

In November 2011, Carrefour opened its first store in Albania as part of TEG Shopping Center (Tirana East Gate) with the same rights as in the European Union and throughout the rest of Europe. Carrefour is integrated in the new shopping center in the same format as in other countries extending into a space of about 7000 square meters. Carrefour will have a policy of supplying imported products while promoting Albanian products, particularly agro-industrial ones.

Austria

In 1976 Carrefour opened a store in the Shopping City Süd at the southern edge of Vienna. Due to limited success the store closed soon after. Carrefour has not made any other attempt at entering the Austrian market thereafter.

Belgium

Carrefour starts its internationalization and that's how the group is established in 1969 in Belgium with a strategic alliance with GB Group. Between 1970 and 2000 several formats work with multiple brands and names Carrefour GB, but only until 2000, the Carrefour Group takes over GB. So officially born Carrefour Belgium, but keep some formats GB, only until 2007 becomes official unification of its various formats and being in operation Carrefour and Carrefour Express GB. In May 2008, starts EcoPlanet Carrefour, also starts selling gas and green energy in the whole of Belgium. In 2009, the formats are established Carrefour Hyper, GB Carrefour, Carrefour Market and Carrefour Express. Furthermore, launches online shopping, In February 2010 Carrefour announced the elimination of 1,672 jobs and the closure of 21 stores and the possibility of acquisition of 20 stores by the group Mestdagh.

Bulgaria

From 2009 to 2011 in Bulgaria were opened eight locations (five hypermarkets and three supermarkets) in Sofia, Plovdiv, Pleven, Varna, Burgas and Ruse.

In 2010, Carrefour and Marinopoulos Group, the largest group of retail in Greece, established a franchise company MSC Bulgaria to develop hypermarkets and supermarkets under the Carrefour banner within Southeastern Europe. In June 2016 the owner of the franchise for Bulgaria declared bankruptcy and the stores were closed.

Georgia

Carrefour operates two hypermarkets and four Carrefour markets in Georgia. It opened its first hypermarket in Georgia at Tbilisi Mall (shopping mall in the northern exit of Tbilisi) on 13 September 2012, occupying approximately 12,000 sq m. The first market was opened at Karvasla Mall (shopping mall near Tbilisi Central railway station) on 16 September 2013. In 2014, the second Carrefour market was opened at Shopping Mall GTC on Orbeliani Square. On 10 November 2015, Carrefour opened its second hypermarket at East Point shopping mall near Kakheti Highway at 2 Aleksandre Tvalchrelidze Street. Shortly after the opening, Carrefour opened its third market in Isani district of Tbilisi at 8a Navtlughi Street. In 2016, Carrefour opened its fourth Market in City Mall Gldani at 1 Khizanishvili Street.

Macedonia

In October 2012, Carrefour opened its first store in Skopje. The store is part of a brand new shopping mall (City Mall) that opened the same day in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. And by the end of summer 2014 planes to open the second store in Tetovo, a city located not too far from Skopje. Carrefour closed its supermarket and hypermarket because of debt.

Portugal

In Portugal, Carrefour retail sold their stake in Continente Modelo to Sonae for €345 million on 16 November 2004.^[25]

In 2008, Carrefour sold its Portuguese retail ventures existing under the Carrefour ensign to Sonae.

Romania

Carrefour is a top retailer in Romania.^[26]

Spain

Spain is the 2nd most important market for Carrefour after France. Carrefour has actually 173 hypermarkets in Spain and there are more hypermarkets under construction or planned.^[27]

United Kingdom

Carrefour opened the first of several hypermarkets in the UK in the 1970s and kept them open until the 1980s. The Dee Corporation bought the stores, which went on trading as Carrefour before becoming branches of the now-defunct Gateway supermarket chain, with some becoming branches of Asda - one such was the Merry Hill branch near Dudley, West Midlands, which opened on 1 July 1986 but became a Gateway branch in 1988 and an Asda in 1990.^[28]

Since July 2011, online supermarket Ocado has sold a range of Carrefour's products in the UK.^[29]

Africa

Kenya^[30]

As of October 2016 in Kenya, East Africa's largest economy, is Two Rivers Mall. It will be the largest mall in East and central Africa with Carrefour as its anchor tenant.^[31] The Hub - Karen, a newly opened shopping mall in the Nairobi suburb of Karen also hosts a Carrefour outlet that opened its doors in May 2016.^[32]

Egypt

Carrefour (Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [kɑɾˈfuːɾ]) has 17 outlets under franchise in Egypt, which are often situated in shopping malls and frequented by the Egyptian upper class. The location in Alexandria was severely looted during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Another 8 outlets or more are coming in 2012/2013. Opened Hyper Markets: (Maadi City Center, Dadny Mega Mall, Sun City Mall, Obour Golf City Mall, Alex City Center, Cairo Festival City, Sky Plaza (El-Shorouk City)). Opened Express Markets: (Maadi, Tiba Outlet Mall, Sharm-El-Sheik, Green Plaza Mall, Down Town Mall). Coming Hyper Markets: (Alex West, Capital Mall). Coming Express Markets: (Royal Plaza Mall, Dolphin Mall, Zezenya Mall, Alsaraya Mall).

Morocco

Carrefour has 10 hypermarkets in Morocco, with the most being located in and around the Casablanca metropolitan area. Carrefour Maroc is a partner of Label'vie, a Moroccan supermarket chain. All the Label'Vie stores are transformed into Carrefour Markets. There are 30 of them widely spread around the kingdom. Carrefour is still expanding its presence in Morocco by opening more supermarkets and hypermarkets to face the settled competition like the Moroccan hypermarket chain Marjane.

South America

Brazil

Carrefour in Brazil ( who is the biggest market outside France ) was founded in 1975 and today it is the second major super markets chain of Brazil in competition with Groupe Casino, Walmart and others and now sell more than 25 million products per year.

Previous operations

In 2006, Carrefour sold all 16 stores in Korea to E-Land and exited Korea. In the same year it also sold all 11 Czech stores to Tesco in exchange for 6 stores and two shopping centers in Taiwan, plus €57.5 million. In 2010, Carrefour announced a decision to leave Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. In November 2010, Carrefour sold its Thailand operations and kept its Malaysian and Singaporean stores. Carrefour had already exited Singapore's market since 30 September 2012.^[33] On 31 October 2012, Aeon Co. Ltd bought over Carrefour Malaysia and its subsidiaries for €147 million and being rebranded as Aeon Big.^[34] All former Carrefour stores in Malaysia are rebranded as AEON BIG, and will be run as a separate brand from the existing AEON stores in the country.^[35] All stores have fully completed the process of rebranding.

Former stores

• Czech Republic – In September 2005, Carrefour sold to Tesco (the biggest UK retailer) 11 stores in the Czech Republic. Tesco paid €57.4 million as well as its stores in Taiwan. Carrefour had opened its first store in 1998 in the Czech Republic. The stores use the Tesco name and brand now;
• Hong Kong – On 18 September 2000,^[36][37] Carrefour closed its stores in Hong Kong after complaints from manufacturers about selling products (especially electronics) at prices far below those of its competitors.^[38] A company spokesman said at that time that the closures were due to "difficulties in finding sites suitable for developing its hypermarket concept and quickly acquiring a significant market share". Carrefour had entered the Hong Kong market in December 1996 with a store in Heng Fa Chuen and had later added stores in Tsuen Wan (Skyline Plaza), Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and Tsim Sha Tsui. Plans to open additional stores in Ma On Shan, Tseung Kwan O and Yau Tsim Mong had been cancelled.^[37]
• Japan – In early 2003, Carrefour sold its 8 hypermarkets to AEON Group and changed branding for the only supermarket in Wisma Atria (Tokyo) as Lotte Mart. It happened due to renovations.
• Malaysia – Carrefour entered Malaysia in 1994 sold its 26 hypermarkets to AEON Group in November 2012.^[39] The hypermarkets was rebranded as AEON BIG, and operates with an orange logo, compared to the purple logo used by its parent company. The outlets in Kota Damansara and Jalan Ipoh was first to be changed from Carrefour to AEON BIG;^[40]
• Mexico – In March 2005, Carrefour sold its 29 hypermarkets in Mexico to Chedraui. Carrefour had opened its first store in 1995 in Mexico;
• Portugal – Carrefour entered Portugal by buying its first stores in 1991 – two Euromaché hypermarkets, in Telheiras (a Lisbon neighbourhood) and Vila Nova de Gaia (suburbs of Porto); This chain was known to have very good quality products, mainly from French origin, when in July 2007 Carrefour sold all of its 12 hypermarkets and 9 fuel stations to Sonae for €662 million. Also included were 11 licenses for opening new commercial spaces. Nowadays only the 365 hard-discount supermarkets (Minipreço) are supported by Carrefour in this country, not included in the takeover.
• Russia – Carrefour entered Russian market in the summer of 2009. In October 2009, only a month after it opened its second hypermarket in the country, Carrefour announced it was exiting Russia.
• Singapore – In 2012, Carrefour's stores were primarily replaced by Giant Hyper (Suntec City) and Cold Storage.
• South Korea – In 2006, Carrefour sold its 32 hypermarkets to E-Land. The stores have been re-branded as Homever.
• Switzerland – In August 2007 Carrefour sold its 12 hypermarkets in Switzerland to Swiss retailer Coop for $390 million;^[41]
• Thailand – Carrefour's business in Thailand was sold to Big C Supercenter Public Company Limited, the owner of Big C hypermarket stores in Thailand due to complaints. The transaction is completed in March 2011, with the Suwintawong branch being the first changed brand store from Carrefour to Big C.^[42] Carrefour entered the Thai market in 1996.
• United Kingdom – Carrefour had several hypermarkets in the UK until the end of the 1980s. The first of them opened in the early 1970s in Caerphilly, South Wales.
• United States – Carrefour opened hypermarkets in Philadelphia (in 1988) and Voorhees Township, New Jersey (in 1992). Both stores closed in 1994. Some associates wore roller skates to facilitate moving about the large buildings. The Voorhees location now houses a Kohl's department store, a Raymour & Flanigan furniture store, and a Marshalls discount clothing store (it had also been partially a Pathmark supermarket, but it closed shortly afterwards). The Philadelphia location, within what is now known as the Philadelphia Mills Mall complex, was partitioned into smaller stores after Carrefour's closing to include a Bradlees store (converted to a Walmart after Bradlees went out of business in 2001, now vacant with Walmart's move to the mall proper in 2015), a Boater's World store (also now vacant), a Service Merchandise store (in space now occupied by a Raymour & Flanigan furniture store) and a Bob's store (now Dick's Sporting Goods).

Stores per region

Asia

Country	First store	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters	Cash & Carry
China	1995	231	–	–	–
Bahrain	2008	1	–	–	–
Japan	2000	7	–	–	–
Jordan	2006	3	14	–	–
Kuwait	2007	1	–	–	–
Lebanon	2013	1	–	–	–
Oman	2000	5	–	–	–
Pakistan	2009	4	–		–
Indonesia	1998	88	–	–	–
Iran	2009	3	4	–	–
Iraq	2012	3	1	–	–
Qatar	2000	3	1	–	–
Saudi Arabia	2004	11	4	–	–
Syria	2009	1	–	–	–
Taiwan	1989	87	–	–	–
United Arab Emirates[43]	1995	19	28	–	–

Africa

Country	First store	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters	Cash & Carry
Egypt	2002	10	26	–	–
Morocco	2000	10	30	–	–
Tunisia	2001	1	69*	–	1
Kenya	2016	2[31][32]	–	–	–

Carrefour has left Algeria in 2009, and opened in Morocco.
*37 Carrefour Market and 32 Carrefour Express, which are smaller supermarkets.^[44]

Europe

Country	First store	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters	Convenience Stores	Cash & Carry
Albania	2011	2	15	–	–	–
Armenia	2015	1	–	–	–	–
Belgium	1969	45	370	–	225	–
Bulgaria	2009	5	3	–	–	–
Cyprus	2006	7	8	–	–	–
France	1960	221	1,021	897	3,245	134
Georgia	2012	2	4	–	–	–
Greece	1991	28	210	397	216	1
Italy	1993	45	485	–	1,015	20
Macedonia	2012	1	1	–	–	–
Monaco	–	–	1[45]	–	–	–
Poland	1997	84	277	–	5	–
Portugal	1991	–	–	365	–	–
Romania	2001	25	77	–	–
Spain	1973	173	162	-	122	114
Slovakia	2000	5	0	0
Turkey	1993	73	99	519	–	–

On 15 October 2009, Carrefour announced plans to sell its Russian business, citing "absence of sufficient organic growth and acquisition opportunities".^[46]

Americas

• Carrefour has a presence in four countries in the Americas: Brazil (who is the biggest market outside France), Argentina, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. Carrefour is active in three types of retail distribution: hypermarkets, supermarkets and hard discounters, and entered the Cash & Carry market in Brazil, after the purchase of Atacadão.^[47] Carrefour was also active in Mexico between 1995 and 2005, when the 29 hypermarkets opened at the moment were sold to Chedraui.

Country	First store	Hypermarkets	Supermarkets	Hard Discounters	Convenience Stores	Cash & Carry
Argentina	1982	59	103	395	–	–
Brazil	1975	163	38	305	5	34
Colombia	1998	70	–	–	24	4
Dominican Republic	2000	5	10	–	20	85

Store brands

Hypermarkets

Carrefour, Atacadão,^[48] Hyperstar

Supermarkets

Carrefour Bairro, Carrefour Market^[48] (Formerly Champion as of 2008), Champion Mapinomovaoe, Globi, Carrefour GB, GS, Carrefour Mini, Gima

Convenience stores

Carrefour Express,^[48] Carrefour City,^[48] Carrefour Contact,^[48] Carrefour Montagne, 5 minutes, 8 à Huit, Marché Plus,^[49] Proxi (supermarket), Sherpa, Dìperdì, Smile Market, Express, Shopi (supermarket)

Cash & Carry

Promocash, Docks Market, Gross IPer

Carrefour Foundation

The Carrefour Foundation (Fondation d'Enterprise Carrefour) is a philanthropic fund created by Carrefour in 2000 to support social welfare programmes 'linked to [its] core business as a retailer' in countries the company operates and in countries where its suppliers are located.^[50]

Criticism and controversies

On 1 May 2007, more than 30 employees of the now closed Carrefour Ratu Plaza, Jakarta, Indonesia, were taken to the Central Pertamina Hospital (Rumah Sakit Pusat Pertamina), after being affected by CO₂. The hypermarket was located on the mall's basement, which offered insufficient ventilation.^[51]

On 26 June 2007, the company was convicted in a French court for false advertising. The suit alleged that Carrefour regularly stocked insufficient quantities of advertised products for sale. In addition, the company was convicted of selling products below cost and accepting kickbacks from wholesalers. Carrefour was ordered to pay a fine of €2 million and to prominently and legibly display a notice in all of its French stores disclosing the false advertising.^[52]

In Carrefour Mangga Dua Square, Jakarta, Indonesia, a 5-metre high metal rack fell on top of a 3-year-old boy, killing him almost instantly due to internal bleeding.^[53] Afterwards, the victim's family claimed that Carrefour has refused to meet with them to settle the case.^[54] However, Carrefour Corporate Affairs Officer denied this allegation^[55]

Carrefour has also received criticism for engaging in sweatshop practices.^[56]

On 7 May 2009, the French government asked a tribunal to fine Carrefour some €220,000 for more than 2,500 violations. Meat products lacked proper tracking information (more than 25% of inventory at some locations), and some products had incorrect labels – such as meat products that "shrank" in weight by 15% after receiving labels. The chain sold products that had long since passed their expiration dates, including, in one case, packs of baby formula that had expired six months earlier. Some 1,625 frozen and refrigerated products were found that had been stored in warehouses at ambient temperature.^[57]

Boycott of supplies in China

In April 2008, after the 2008 Olympic torch relay was disrupted by Tibetan independence advocates in London and especially Paris, where some protesters attempted to wrest control of the torch from torch bearers, Chinese activists have promoted boycotting Carrefour because of its French roots.^[58] The boycott of Carrefour in particular was further fueled by unsubstantiated rumours that a major shareholder, Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, had donated to the Dalai Lama. In its response, Carrefour China stated that it does support the Beijing Olympics; and that they will never do anything to harm the feelings of Chinese people.^[59] Protests occurred in and around a number of Carrefour outlets throughout China, and anti-Carrefour advocates campaigned for a one-day boycott of Carrefour on May Day, a public holiday in China.

As a result of the boycott, Chinese search engines Baidu.com.cn and sina.com blocked access to Carrefour's website in China for a short time. Users searching Carrefour in China, were sent an error page indicating "The search result may contain illegal content, so we can not display the result." in Chinese.^[60]

Building collapse at Savar

On 24 April 2013, the eight-story Rana Plaza commercial building collapsed in Savar, a sub-district near Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. At least 1,127 people died and over 2,438 were injured.^[61] The factory housed a number of separate garment factories employing around 5,000 people, several shops, and a bank^[62] and manufactured apparel for brands including the Benetton Group, Joe Fresh,^[63] The Children's Place, Primark, Monsoon, and DressBarn.^[64][65] Of the 29 brands identified as having sourced products from the Rana Plaza factories, only 9 attended meetings held in November 2013 to agree a proposal on compensation to the victims. Several companies refused to sign including Walmart, Carrefour, Bonmarché, Mango, Auchan and Kik. The agreement was signed by Primark, Loblaw, Bonmarche and El Corte Ingles.^[66]

Slavery in Thailand

In 2014, the Guardian reported, that Carrefour is a client of Charoen Pokphand Foods. During 6 months the Guardian traced down the whole chain from slave ships in Asian waters to leading producers and retailers.^[67]

Slogans

French slogans

• 1988–2003 : With Carrefour, I'm positive (Avec Carrefour, je positive)
• 2003–2007 : Energy Wise
• 2007–2009 : Quality for all
• 2009–2010 : Positive is back (Le positif est de retour)
• 2010–2011 : Positively every day (Du positif chaque jour)
• 2012-2015 : Low in price... but high in trust (Les prix bas... La confiance en plus)
• Since 2015 : I optimize (J'optimisme)

International slogans

• Hypermarkets: "Choice and quality for everyone"
• Hypermarkets: "Low prices, and so much more!"
• Hypermarkets: "Está bueno para vos" and "Los precios más bajos, siempre" (Argentina), it means "It's good for you" and "The lowest prices, always" respectively.
• Hypermarkets: "Ninguém faz melhor que o primeiro" (Brazil), meaning "Nobody does better than the first", referring to the fact that Carrefour is the world's first hypermarket and also Brazil's first hypermarket and to other Carrefour firsts, such as the "Lowest price or the difference back" policy.
• Hypermarkets: "Faz Carrefour" (Brazil), "Do It Carrefour"
• Hypermarkets: "Carrefour, chévere!" (Colombia), it means "Carrefour, nice!".
• Hypermarkets: "Life, the way I want it" (Singapore)
• Hypermarkets: "Untuk hidup yang lebih baik" (Indonesia), it means "For a better life"
• Hypermarkets: "Pentru o viaţă mai bună" (Romania), it means "For a better life"
• Supermarkets: "The prices people want, close to home"
• Hard Discount: "Grocery products at low, low prices"
• Convenience Stores: "Just what you need, right next door"
• Cash & Carry: "Proximity and accessibility for catering professionals"
• Hypermarkets, Cash & Carry: "Καθε μέρα για σένα"(Cyprus) means "Every day, for you"
• Hypermarkets: "Pozytywnie każdego dnia" (Poland), it means "Positively every day" and "To wszystko dla Ciebie" (Poland), it means "It's all for You"

See also

• Companies of France
• European Retail Round Table
• List of French companies
• List of hypermarkets
• Carrefour Marinopoulos

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carrefour.

• Official website
• Official store
• Official mobile site
• Yahoo! – Carrefour SA Company Profile
• The history-book of Yves Soulabail, Carrefour Un combat pour la liberté, Le Loup Hurlant Editions, 2010.