Carrefour Case - Company Information, Structure and Distribution

1.1 Company information, structure and distribution

Carrefour is in the grocery store industry and is recognized as the second largest global retail group in the world after wall mart (SN 2012). The group’s main business activity is Europe that generates almost 70% of the net sales (figure 1.1.1). Carrefour is based in France, but has operations in Latin America, Asia and across Europe. While being the largest food retailer in Europe (Fresh Plaza 2012) the group’s net sales have increased the most in Latin America and (approx. 84%) and decreased the most in Europe (approx. -14%) (figure 1.1.2) Carrefour operates through four main grocery store formats: hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores and cash & carry stores. Last year the group started a legal process of separating a sub group, Dia which is a hard discount supermarket chain. I will assess the separation of Dia later in the analysis. Despite the separation of Dia the group has increased their number of employees and number of stores. Carrefour have higher net sales per employee and higher net sales per square meter that their peers. The group have 9 771 stores, of which 63% is franchisees and partners (figure 1.1.3). As you can see in appendix chapter 1.1, figure 1.1.3 and 1.1.4, hypermarkets and supermarkets is the largest in house segment where hypermarkets generates over 65% of the total gross sale. The group operates in 33 countries with over 412 443 employees and over 45% of their stores are located in France. While almost half of Carrefour’s stores are located in France, almost 57% of the group’s sales come from Europe (excluding France), Latin America and Asia. Carrefour has increased the number of stores in each segment every year, but in 2011 there is a steep decline. The decline in number of stores is related to the distribution of Dia shares and the sale of operations in Thailand. While the number of store went down in 2011, Carrefour is innovative