Marketing strategies of Carrefour in Poland

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF A SUPERMARKET CHAIN

Chwastowicz Bart"omiej

Nr. ID 1509/K

Introduction.

In 1963, Carrefour invented the hypermarket1 concept and opened the first store of this type in France. Carrefour now serves more than 2 billion clients per year in its more than 9,000 stores, which are present in more than 26 countries spread across 3 geographic zones. The supermarket chain employs more than 240 thousands2 people. The group also operates, directly or via franchise. There are 1078 supermarkets under the signs of Champion, Stock, and Marché Plus. Moreover, Carrefour has 1672 neighborhood stores operating under the signs Shopi, 8 à huit, Maxi Plus and Comod, and 160 cash & carry outlets under the signs Promocash and Prodirest. It also has 8% of shares of Office Depot.

Since 1973, Carrefour has been successfully expanding its presence beyond France into other European, American and Asian countries.

In Europe the market chain will open in 4 additional countries between now and the end of 2001.

The Carrefour supermarket at Faa'a, Tahiti, French...

Former Carrefour store in Minoh City, Osaka Prefec...

Carrefour Amagasaki,Tsugiya Amagasaki-City Hyogo J...

Poland is one of the centre's countries, where Carrefour is effectively continuing its growth. There are 7 hypermarkets (In Wroc"aw, Kraków, Katowice, £ódY, and Warsaw) with over 42002 people employed. It sells groceries of all trade, including fresh and inedible3. The hypermarket chain offers its clients following services:

Financial service

Carrefour Opticals

High Season (flowers)

ATM (automatic money distributors)

Shopping center

Public transportation (bus )

Bicycle parking

Parcel holding

Taxi Station

Home delivery

1-hour photo service

Press

Gift certificates

Credit Card / Visa / MasterCard / B.C.A.

Debit Card / B.C.A.

Carrefour has got many competitors in the hypermarket and supermarket4 sector. Its main competitors are: Allkauf, Auchan, Billa, Geant, Globi, Hit, Jumbo, Major Julius Mainl, PHS S.A., Plus, Real, and Tesco. The difference among these chains is mostly the marketing strategy, however, Carrefour's main advantage is...