Carrefour Case Carrefour first store was opened in France in the summer of 1960. The concept of one-stop shop with discount prices proved to be very successful since in France retail distribution in 1960 was highly fragmented and product lines in individual stores were very narrow. Visits to up to four separate shops were required in order to purchased all retail food merchandise. Carrefour facilitated the process of buying food items by creating a store where the consumer could find almost every food product he needs. Nonfood products were later added to Carrefour line of products. In 1963 Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in France outside Paris selling food and nonfood products at discount prices, and providing parking for 450 cars. The high degree of consumer acceptance can be attributed to convenience and price. The hypermarket strategy proved to be very successful and from 1965 and 1971 sales grew in excess of 50% and nonfood items accounted for 40% of total volume. In 1970 new stores were opened with selling area as large as 25,000 sq m. Carrefour’s strategy was to build its store outside of towns in location where highways provided easy access and land could be acquired very inexpensively. The combination of low-cost land and inexpensive construction gave Carrefour a total investment per square meter of selling space equal to about one third of traditional supermarkets. Another strategy was a decentralized management. Each store manager had high decision-making power to operate their stores, which make decisions faster, more dynamic, and the daily store management more efficient. Plus, manager could customize its store to suit local needs better. The decentralized operations were a key success factor underlying Carrefour’s national achievements. By 1971 the growth of discounted retail stores face a huge problem in France, 40% of small shopkeepers had disappeared due to the growth of big retailers and small shopkeepers had a significant political force in France that couldn’t be ignored. In order to address the small shopkeepers problem the government found a way to slow down the growth of hypermarkets by making difficult to obtain construction permits to build large new retail stores. However that solution was not enough to keep small retailers in business, so in 1972 legislation was passed to tax retail stores in order to provide pensions for small shopkeepers who were unable to continue in business. All these factors were obstacles for Carrefour growth, nonetheless Carrefour managed to get two new construction permits each year from 1960 and early 1970s.
The advent of new technology such as the automobile, refrigerator, food processing and preservation provided a way for business entrepreneurs to start new businesses that allowed for large scale production, distribution and centralized retailing of both meat and plant foods. The result being CAFO’s.
The development of department stores in Canada gave way to a new modern era of Canadian society. Through the development of mass retail in 1890 and 1940, Canada experienced a spur in the retail industry as large stores such as Eaton’s, Simpson’s and HBC emerged. Donica Belisle's book “Retail Nation: Department Stores and the Making of Modern Canada”, is useful to understand the expansion of the retail industry as it examines department stores activities along with the responses of consumers, employees, governments and critics to gain insights on the evolution of consumer capitalism in Canada through a feminist perspective. In this essay, I will give a brief summary of the book as well as a review based on my opinions of the book and author.
Despite the outbreak of the First World War, the store strived to give a great service to the public, giving a meaning to the famous phrase “business as usual” (Harry Gordon Selfridge, 1914). During the period of 1919 and 1924, the company started its first expansion in Oxford Street and was selling everything from make-up to toys. So far, over 15 million had shopped in the store.
Place: They opened discount factory outlet stores in rural areas and retail stores in urban shopping center. By selling different kind of product in different places help them to meet the different need of the customers. On the other hand, they also sell their product online, where customer can purchase their product at anywhere and anytime. All this make them be able to maximize their gain.
The strategy of WFM, co founder Mackey, is to continue offering healthier options for its customers. The movement into Canada and the UK in the last few years, lays the footprint for additional global expansion. Mackey intends to increase WFM to 1000 stores. The question is whether it will happen through acquisitions or new store locations. The answer based on their history is a combination of both. The store in Canada opened in 2002. Since brand recognition is not as strong, the store struggled somewhat in the beginning; however, the expectation is that it will grow to one billion in the next ten years (Patton, 2013). The stores in UK, which are in the greater London area, have received mixed receptions, and some stores are selling well while other locations are not. However, Mackey is not deterred and believes that longevity will produce the desired results.
On January 22, 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection becoming the largest retailer ever to do so in U.S. history. Most industry analysts attributed the immediate cause of the company's bankruptcy filing to a dull holiday season and stiff competition from WalMart and Target as the chain's more fundamental problem. But competition wasn't the root cause of Kmart's consistently poor performance. The real reason for Kmart's poor performance is that Kmart never had a marketing strategy. Kmart completely misunderstood its market and was positioning itself in the wrong direction. Also, on the strategic side, there are issues of where stores were located. On the whole, Kmart stores did not seem to be sited as well as the stores of the competition. Then there was the issue of technology. While Wal-Mart was becoming the relentless efficiency engine that we know today by investing in technology and streamlining the supply chain, Kmart held back. As Wal-Mart developed an infrastructure that enabled it to lower prices, Kmart slipped into a price disadvantage. This paper discusses these strategic problems that led to Kmart's poor performance.
The freedom to choose and globalization helped in the establishment of modern super markets. A standard supermarket displays more than 30,000 items (Cross, 2000:55). Assu...
Allen, J. (2009) ‘One-stop shopping: the power of supermarkets’, in Taylor, S., Hinchliffe, S., Clarke, J. and Bromley, S. (eds)
Department stores do not manufacture products nor create their own brands of merchandise, their products are not differentiated. As a result, consumers have low switching costs, customer loyalty is low, as they can easily purchase similar products elsewhere. These lower the barriers to entry, allowing new entrants a chance to gain customers.
The concept of grocery stores and supermarkets industry is an idea that has been created in order to make easier human`s life. According to the study “The Evolution of the Supermarket Industry From A&P to Wal-Mart” by Ellickson, who explains that a century ago people had to jump from one store to another store in order to get different products such as milk, meat, bread and other products. In addition, in the article “Understanding Groceries Industry” by The Reinvestment Fund, they state that back in a day the concept of grocery stores was created based on the owner`s store needs. Later on, as the development of the society and the standards of customer needs increased, the owners of the grocery stores started to be more focused on their customer needs. Also, the study of “Understanding Groceries Industry” shows that the supermarket and grocery stores industry is in their mature stage as they have developed an extensive and solid customer service.
The food and staples retailing is an increasingly competitive industry. The market giants (competitors) are Coles (owned by Wesfarmers) which has 741 stores across Australia and plans to add 70 m...
Wal-Mart is facing a significant global competition from Ahold of Holland, Tesco in the UK, and Carrefour from France. Carrefour, the world's second-largest retailer, is perhaps the most globalized- in 2006, it generated sales outside of France for more than 50% from the pioneer concept of hypermarket operated in 26. Regard to the annual sales in that year, Wal-Mart produces less than 20% as compare to Carrefour from its international operations. However, this means that there was room for significant global
...nal supermarket retailers will reinvent themselves over a period of time, in order to attract and maintain a loyal customer base. New concepts, neighborhood marketing, and innovation will be the key to success over the next decade.” (Imlay, 2006) What is propose is that a smart mix of products, perhaps catering to demographic tastes and needs, may tempt the shopper not drive out to the big box store, but instead loyal to their local market.
1947: The first store opens in Västerås, Sweden, selling women’s clothing. The store is called Hennes
A good location can have a significant impact in attracting potential customers, thus improving sales. Especially in the case of a supermarket, location is more important than other business sector. Customers never drive long distances to only buy daily necessities. Moreover, favorable location gives efficiency to company’s logistics because unnecessary moving cost can be cut down. So, we can say that it is important factor for the successful operation of the supermarket.