Historical
glance:
The first Carrefour store was created in
1958 in France by Marcel Fournier, Denis Defforey and Jac Defforey (Defforey
family) and now it’s the smallest store of Carrefour. The first Carrefour group
was created in Europe (hypermarkets) in 1963 and the first Carrefour
hypermarket that was outside France was in Belgium. Also, in 1970, Carrefour's
shares were listed in the Paris stock exchange. In 1973, Carrefour opened its
first hypermarket in Spain under Pryca banner and in 1975 Carrefour opened its
hypermarket in Brazil and now it's considered one of the major competitors
there, they sell around 25 million products per year. In 1980, Carrefour was
created its payment card which was called Pass Card. In 1984, Carrefour created
Carrefour insurance service. In 1989, the first Carrefour hypermarket opened in
Asia specifically in Taiwan. In 1991, Carrefour created travel services
(Carrefour vacations). In 1993, Carrefour introduced its hypermarket in Italy
and Turkey and after one year it created its hypermarket in Malaysia and
Mexico. In 1999, Carrefour was merged with Promodès
(continent) which was one of its strong competitors in the French Market and they
created the second-largest retailing market in the world. In 2000, Carrefour
created its online hypermarkets in order to gain more customers. Now, Carrefour
group had more than 1400 hypermarkets around the world.*
Products
and Services offered:
Actually, Carrefour group seeks to provide
its customers with good stuff, high-quality and superior services in order to
create a good relationship with its customers. Carrefour group always tries to
offer special, unique and innovative products and services. They provide
electrical and home appliances like: Laptops, Television, Wash machines and
several entertaining devices. Also, they provide several types of foodstuffs
such as vegetables and fruits and other fresh foods. Moreover, they provide
different types of clothing and accessories for all genders and all ages. In
addition, they sell several types of books, stationeries, newspapers and some
magazines. On other hand, Carrefour group also provide several types of
services like services that offered to customers and services that offered to
premium clients. They provide a long chain of restaurants, ATM banking, and
recreation areas for children as well as warranty of some products and customer
services section.
Other
services:
Ë Carrefour group also provides a new service like: Carrefour mobile
network, this service enables its customers, suppliers, partners and even
distributors to collaborate and connect with each other in order to provide the
effective and efficient processes.
Ë They used
Google wallet application that enables customers to pay by using e-credit card
that's inserted into mobile phone and it is working by using NFC (near field
communication) that allows sharing and exchanging the sensitive information by
touch.
Size of
company:
Actually, Carrefour group is an International
Corporation that operates its operations and activities in several regions over
the world. Also, in the mother country of Carrefour group which is in France
they had more than 225 hypermarkets and they have been expanded successfully in
many regions of the world especially in Europe, Asia, North Africa and Latin
America. For example, in Asia they opened many hypermarket chains in many
countries like Chain with 134 hypermarkets, Indonesia with 61 hypermarkets,
Taiwan with 48 hypermarkets, Saudi Arabia with 11 hypermarkets and many
countries like Oman, UAE, Qatar and India. In the end of 2009 Carrefour group
has 1,395 hypermarkets around the world, so that's one way to recognize the
size of Carrefour group. Also there is another way to determine the size of
Carrefour group which is revenue. When we look at its revenue we can infer the
size of Carrefour's operations in terms of sales. Carrefour's revenue reached
to more than 112 billion in 2011 with 433 million as profits.(adopt by Wikipedia.org)
Where in the world does it operate?
We found from strategy of
Carrefour group they focus on regions that have high population to conduct
their operations and activities. Carrefour group conducted its operations in
three main locations which are Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as North
Africa. In fact, Carrefour group has several international operations in many
areas of the world also they have many stores that are distributed in many
locations. For example, In UAE they launched the first store in 1995 and now
they have 11 hypermarkets and 2 supermarkets. On other hand, Carrefour group go
away from US due to competition with Wal-Mart and also they decided to leave
Australian market due to limited success.
Suppliers
and partners:
Since the birth of Carrefour group,
Carrefour group depended on SME (small to medium enterprise) in its supplies.
They had good strategies like sustainability and transparency to change them
(its suppliers) from only suppliers to original partners. For example, in
France there are 80% of Carrefour's products are manufactured by SME suppliers.
Also, in 1973 when Carrefour launched its own brand products there are 23 SMEs
are still providing Carrefour with unique and high-quality products. About
partners, Carrefour group have many partnerships with many organizations in
several fields. Also, Carrefour Group has many business and social
partnerships. For example, Carrefour signed convention for five years with IBM
to manage and maintain Carrefour's IT. Also, Carrefour Group is working with
Oracle and Sears corporations in order to produce the largest worldwide online
retailer marketplace. In addition, Oracle will assist Carrefour Group by
providing them with techniques and methods in order to build the first global
B2B online exchange. Also, about social partnerships in 1997 Carrefour group
signed with FIDH (international federation of Human Rights) to ensure the
social conditions of the manufacture of its products in countries considered
sensitive. Also, Carrefour group has partnership with WWF (World Wildlife Fund)
and this partnership is created to waste reduction and maintain the environment.
(Carrefour.net and www-03.ibm.com)
Consumer/Customer
base:
As we mentioned before that Carrefour Group
represents the most important part in retail industry and its successful
expansion in many regions of the world but what's the main benefit to follow
lowest cost strategy rather that differentiation strategy. Actually, Carrefour
Group is committed to provide the high-quality products to its customers
because it knows they don't have the same purchasing power and to gain their
confidence. We think that the secret of Carrefour's success is building a good
relationship with its customers and ability to deal with different types of
customers. In addition, Carrefour provides several types of services for its
customers such as providing online shopping and delivering the items to their
houses. Actually, Carrefour recognizes the importance of providing the newest
patterns for shopping and for its customers either by online or by physical
manner so Carrefour Groups always try to provide the best techniques in order
to satisfy its customers and change the definition of shopping (low price and
so much more).(carrefour.com)
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