carrefour in china case study

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The rise and fall (and rise again?) of Carrefour in China

• March 16, 2023
• Carrefour in China , Carrefour's strategy in China , The future of Carrefour in China

In 2022, Carrefour was the 8 th most popular supermarket chain in China, with a revenue of 27.3 billion USD. At the beginning of 2022, the French giant had more than 200 stores across China. However, in Q1 of the same year, it registered the definitive closure of more than 24 stores. Carrefour crisis in China accelerated in 2019, after the acquisition of the company’s stakes by the Chinese brand Suning, which now holds 80% of Carrefour’s retail operations in China. Fierce competition is also damaging the company’s sales in China, the superstore is progressively losing ground to other Chinese supermarket companies.

The history of Carrefour in China and how the company made its own name in the market

Carrefour entered the Chinese market in 1995 through an alliance with Shanghai Hualian , an electrical appliance company. At that time, the Chinese government had imposed restrictions on the retail industry that hindered the expansion of foreign companies in China. However, Carrefour managed to gain popularity in its early years of operation, as it faced less competition from other foreign retailers who were affected by the government regulations.

The Chinese name of the company, “家乐福”, means “family, happiness and fortune”. The company  focused on 1 st tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, where it offered quality products at low and convenient prices . One of the main marketing strategies that Carrefour adopted worldwide was “localization”. The company adapted its approach to the specific country it entered. In China, the brand studied the consumption habits and the psychology of its consumers. As a result, in 2021, more than 90% of all the products in Carrefour stores were sourced from local suppliers. In this way, their items were cheaper and, thus, more affordable.

Carrefour China’s struggle and decline under Suning’s ownership

Carrefour China’s foundations began to crumble in 2018, when it registered a loss of more than half a billion euros in net sales, dropping from 4.3 billion USD in 2017 to 3.8 billion USD in 2018. To save the company, Suning, one of the biggest online and offline retailers in China founded in Nanjing in 1996, acquired 80% of the total Carrefour’s stakes for more than 4.8 billion RMB in June 2019 .  Suning hoped to boost its fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and expand its retail presence online and offline. However, even Suning’s aggressive expansion policy didn’t stop Carrefour from falling into a deep crisis. As of 2021, the French retailer had 205 stores spread across the country, but during the first three quarters of 2022 , Carrefour China shut 54 stores. Suning faced a loss of more than 4.5 billion RMB in the same period, down by more than 40% compared to the previous year.

Mistakes and miscalculations led Carrefour into a deep crisis

Carrefour was not the only Western company that failed in the Chinese market. Other big Western players such as Home Depot and Tesco also had to exit China after facing fierce competition and changing consumer preferences. Starting from 2010, both brands were forced to close their stores and abandon exit China.

China’s rapid digitalization of its economy since 2010 posed a major challenge for Carrefour, which did not manage to keep up with the e-commerce trend and new delivery system. This was one of the most crucial mistakes made by Carrefour in China, as online shopping became increasingly important for local consumers.

The shortage of products is a persisting problem in all the Carrefour retail points in China

At the beginning of 2023, Carrefour China faced a severe shortage of products in its hyperstores in Beijing, especially fresh vegetables, fruit, and meat. To solve the problem, Suning made significant changes in the organization of some Beijing stores, such as the Shuangjing store. Carrefour had to move all its products to only one floor of its hypermarket, while Suning’s products occupied the other one. As of February 2023 , two third of Carrefour stores suffered from this shortage problem. The issue was more serious in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, where 80% of the Carrefour stores show anomalies on their supply chains and shelves.

Consumers are getting more concerned about Carrefour’s prepaid cards

The problem of prepaid cards is also worsening the crisis of Carrefour in China. After the first shortages of products in its stores, consumers started panic-buying grocery products, because they were afraid to lose money in their prepaid cards in case the store would have permanently shut down. Moreover, only “ selected items ” could be purchased using the Carrefour card. This restriction boosted the emptiness of some shelves, while others were completely full. The cards rapidly became useless, because the only purchasable products were sold out. The prepaid cards problem wasn’t only concentrated in few areas but was widely spread across China, concerning cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. As of February 2023, the crisis had been continuing for more than a month.

Amid deep crisis, Carrefour China showed strong commitment to customers

Even if the company was facing a deep crisis at the beginning of 2022, Carrefour demonstrated unwavering support to its consumers during the Covid-19 outbreak. In April 2022 , during the Shanghai lockdown, Carrefour staff slept in the stores to ensure residents had access to essential supplies. Despite the challenging circumstances, Carrefour employees prepared more than 3,000 orders a day, providing vegetables, meat, and everyday products to help those in the strict lockdown.

Carrefour shifts towards digital economy

Rumors that Carrefour in China was filing for bankruptcy were denied at the beginning of 2023. In February 2023, the company stipulated a strategic agreement with the Yingjiang district government in Anqing city (Anhui). The deal involves equity investments in the company’s supply chains and business operations. The state-owned investments injected into Carrefour can potentially boost the brand’s transformation process, leading to faster development of the retail industry. In addition, the collaboration will help Carrefour enhance its digital economy, an area in which Suning is also actively involved.

The Chinese company is looking to improve the 3C of Carrefour: computers, communication, and consumer electronics. The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted the French retailer to is invest more in a new supply chain model integrating offline and online retail. Along with the improvements in the supply system, starting from February 2022, Carrefour is also adopting a community shopping model . Apart from the already announced improvement of their suppliers, the stores will also offer more services for families and experiences to attract more consumers, such as children’s playgrounds and catering facilities.

Carrefour’s economic struggles in China don’t stop its operations

• As of 2022, Carrefour was one of the biggest supermarket companies in China, with a revenue of 27.3 billion USD.
• The brand first entered the Chinese market in 1995 aided by the Shanghai Hualian company, immediately gaining lots of popularity. Carrefour’s main mission was selling quality products at convenient prices.
• Since 2018, Carrefour was hit by a deep crisis after the acquisition of 80% of its stakes by Suning. As of Q3 2022, the company lost a total of 54 stores and Suning group lost more than 40% of revenue compared to the previous year.
• Carrefour has faced significant challenges in the Chinese market in recent years, including a struggle to keep up with the digitalization trend. As the market shifted towards online retail, the company was slow to adapt and faced supply chain issues, resulting in a decline in performance.
• At the beginning of 2023, Carrefour hyperstores across China faced a severe shortage. The crisis was also boosted by the company’s restrictions on certain products, which could only be purchased through Carrefour card. As a result, some specific shelves of the supermarkets were completely empty.
• Despite the crisis, Carrefour showed concern and support to their consumers to regain popularity. During the 2022 Shanghai Covid-19 lockdown, the brand helped those in lockdown by delivering grocery products.
• At the beginning of 2023, Carrefour also signed a strategic agreement with Yingjiang authorities to empower its supply chain system. The company started creating a new supply chain integrating both online and offline retail, as well as a new form of community shopping model.

Author: Lorenzo Linguerri

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Carrefour China​ – Failure Case Study

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Published: May 31, 2021 Report Code: CS21029SF-ST

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Table of Contents

Carrefour is a French retailer that failed to understand Chinese consumers and has become irrelevant due to the changing retail environment in the country.

Carrefour, which entered the Chinese market in 1995, decided to exit the country after selling a majority stake at a discount in 2019. Despite rising purchasing power and an expanding retail industry in the country, Carrefour China’s net sales have seen a YOY decline of 5.9%.

– Lower prices and short delivery times have become standard practices in China, where Carrefour lagged.

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Carrefour’s History and Exit from China

By Lisa Qixun Siebers

Carrefour is a French retailer with a successful history of being China’s largest and fastest growing foreign retail stores in 1995. However, with the country’s digitalisation in 2010, Carrefour has failed to adapt with the changing consumer and market behaviour which led to its exit in one of the world’s largest e-commerce markets. In this article, the author has cited Carrefour’s successes and failures – from its management strategies to business expansion plans which can become a competitive imperative of learning for multinational companies and industries who need to upskill their approach towards the digital era before it becomes too late for them.

On 23 rd June 2019, the French retailer Carrefour, the second-largest retailer worldwide sold 80% of the share of its Chinese stores to Suning International, part of the Suning Group, a Chinese retailer. By then, this used-to-be largest foreign retailer in China has been perceived exiting from China’s market, followed by similar actions taken by the UK retailers B&Q, which sold its 70% stake to Chinese company Wumei Holding in 2014 and Tesco, which sold its 80% share to China Resources Enterprise in 2017. It is important to reflect, after 24 years of operations, why such a worldwide large retailer has taken their steps out of the fastest-growing consumer market, where Carrefour used to be the fastest-growing among all foreign retail companies.

A brief history of Carrefour’s entry and expansion in China can be summarised into three phases.

1995-2001: Market Entry and Development Phase Carrefour entered China in 1995 through a joint venture and opened the first largest hypermarket in Beijing – Beijing Chuangyi Store. Taking the first-comer advantages, Carrefour had remained as the fastest-growing foreign retailers in China during its operation for about two decades until the Chinese market became digitalised in 2010.

2002-2008: Fast Expansion Phase Carrefour expanded throughout China in just a few years, led by its China CEO Shi Lerong. Between 2003 and 2006, Carrefour was the fastest expanding foreign retailers in China, with over 10 stores opening each year. During this time, Carrefour had established several flagship stores and procedures in China. In 2004, Carrefour introduced its first fresh food store called Guanjun Supermarket in Beijing. In 2011, Carrefour set up a top-level food security lab in its Shuangjing Store in Beijing, which was the first of this kind in China. The lab links to other 42 smaller labs to enhance food security, becoming an example of the provision of high-quality food.

2009-2018: Decline and Rescuing Phase Slowing down expansion In 2009, RT-Mart from Taiwan, replaced Carrefour China by owning the largest number of retail stores among foreign investors in China’s retail industry. In 2010, online retailing or e-tailing started to soar in China. By 2017, China has become the world’s largest e-commerce market, accounting for 40% of the value of worldwide e-commerce transaction, up from less than 1% in 2007. China’s online retail market has also become the world’s largest, with 38% annual growth rate (US$830 billion), compared to 14% in the US. To respond to the changing habits of Chinese consumers from in-store shopping to online shopping together with the increase in rent especially in the 1 st and the 2 nd tier cities, where Carrefour opened most of its hypermarkets, the retailer started to close some stores. Carrefour China closed its Xiaozhai store in Xi’an, Northwest of China, being its first store closure. By the end of 2015, Carrefour had 228 stores. In the same year, it closed 18 stores to 210 until its exit in 2019.

Variating retail formats To respond to Chinese consumers’ preferences for convenience, Carrefour opened its first neighbourhood store in 2014 – Carrefour Easy and Carrefour Express convenience stores in affluent residential areas in Shanghai, targeting middle-class residents. These were directed by its new CEO in China Tang Jianian (Thierry Garnier). The fast growth of its convenience stores was contributed to Carrefour’s both store and sales growth rate in 2016 according to the data from China Chain Store and Franchise Association (CCFA), which ranked Carrefour as the 11 th largest retailer by sales in 2016 being the 4 th among foreign retailers in China.

In 2015, Carrefour introduced its online shopping tool to boost its market share. In the same year, Carrefour opened its first shopping mall in Beijing, where the company rents out its store spaces to other retailers to attract customer flow and spread the cost. It was also the first time that Carrefour purchased land to build and manage a mall, which was its biggest in Asia. This format offered Chinese consumers new experiences in shopping. One of Carrefour’s senior executives commented:

One hypermarket is about 8000 to 10000 square meters, a large mall is about 20000 to 30000 square meters. Apart from a hypermarket, the mall includes 65% of rent-out space for restaurants, a cinema, KTVs, a gym, a SPA, beauty businesses, children’s education places, clothes shops, and so on … The purpose of our shopping malls is to attract customer flow through various lifestyle formats (finance.sina news, 2015). 

In 2018, Carrefour opened its first smart retail store, Le Marche. The retailer offered many private labels in its stores such as Carrefour Quality Line and French Touch brands, targeting middle-class consumers. However, this action was a little late to catch up with the market needs, by the exit, the retailer had only 24 smart retail stores. It could not replicate its small-sized store model in France (over 6000 stores) in China. 

However, this action was a little late to catch up with the market needs, by the exit, the retailer had only 24 smart retail stores. It could not replicate its small-sized store model in France (over 6000 stores) in China.

Developing distribution systems Only until in 2015, Carrefour started to have its own distribution centre after 20 years of  operations in China. By the end of 2017, the retailer set up six large warehouse logistics distribution centres in Hunshan (East China), Wuhan (middle China), Chengdu (Southwest China), and Tianjin (North China).

Nevertheless, the above strategies did not help Carrefour to regain its development potential in China’s market.

2019: Market Exit

Apparently, Carrefour took corresponding strategies for its development in China at both the pre-digital and the post-digital age. However, why did this retail giant just fail in the market? There are several main internal and external reasons.

Short-sight of management without a long-term strategy Carrefour’s catching-up strategies used to respond to the fast-changing digitalised retail sector in China were lack of focus. For example, the new modern retail formats Carrefour established as mentioned above including Guanjun Supermarkets, Carrefour Easy, and Le Marche were developed by a conservative and trying-out attitude. By doing so, Carrefour kept its conventional behaviours of charging fees from its suppliers, continuously reducing expenditure on human resources, and other expenses in order to improve profits, reflecting the similar strategies the retailer used to make a profit in the first two decades of development in China. By this conservative approach and not investing sufficiently on human resources, financial resources, and material resources, Carrefour was unable to transit successfully in response to the fast digitalisation process in China.

Short-term performance management It was Carrefour’s performance management system that led to the short-sight management approach. This system was implemented by its staff from the middle to the top level, from boards of directors to managers, with a type of utilitarian mentality. This approach was largely derived from the focus of profit-making of the Carrefour Group. Since the previous Carrefour China CEO Luo Guowei (Eric Legros), a consultant and a professional manager, had taken the position in 2006, the management orientation of the retailer in China became more toward profit-seeking. These were represented by their cost-reduction strategies, the establishment of CUU (city-based merchandise centres) and new product development concepts. Specifically, when the sales increased, related expenses could be increased; otherwise decreased. Such tight financial policy affected the long-term competitive advantage of the company.

The profit-orientated performance management system also resulted in the short-term employment of senior managers. Carrefour hired its professional managers in China up to three years only, with a maximum once re-election. This period is insufficient for long-term business planning and vision. As a result, the professional managers focussed more on their financial performance during their time of service. Consequently, their successor may have to deal with any challenges left over by the former manager.

Late development of the supply chain management system and over-centralisation Carrefour did not have its own distribution centre until 2015. By then, most of the goods had been delivered by suppliers to stores. The previous system caused inefficiency for managing both costs and sustainable growth. The reason for this late development was derived from the lack of emphasis on distribution centres and logistics management.

Early 2015, Carrefour reduced its 24 CCU (city-based merchandise centres) to six, located in various areas, including those in Shenyang, Northeast; Beijing, North; Shanghai, East; Wuhan, Middle; Chengdu, Southwest; and Guangzhou, South China. By doing so, Carrefour centralised its merchandise systems in China that was established in 1995 when the retailer entered the Chinese market. After this new establishment, the regional directors of these six big regions terminated their duties for supply and started to focus on store operations. The CCUs contributed to the increased centralisation of power from stores or store managers to each CCU, making the profit more transparent, leading to an increased profit of Carrefour China as a whole.

However, the CCUs replaced parts of the previous role of each region, and each region needed to allocate the purchasing power to an increasing number of employees who were responsible for supply. Consequently, Carrefour shifted staff from stores to CCUs, thus reducing the staff in each store from 15 employees in each department before CCUs’ establishment to six after. As a consequence, many experienced store managers left Carrefour and the morale of store staff became low.

Final Remarks

Overall, the challenges that Carrefour faced in China was also largely influenced by the fast growth of online retailing, with one-stop shopping becoming gradually unfavourite by Chinese consumers. The hypermarket format has entered its decline period in the digitalised Chinese retail sector. In addition, multinational retailers are not in the first position to realise the changes in the fast-changing Chinese market, especially, the strategic decisions of the multinationals are mainly made by their home-country management system. When the home-country decision-makers have realised the changes in China, it is often too late.

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, notions for the successful management of the supply chain: learning with carrefour in spain and carrefour in china.

Supply Chain Management

ISSN : 1359-8546

Article publication date: 15 March 2011

This paper proposes a framework that considers some key concepts to design and manage supply chains in both national and international contexts. For a better understanding, it is intended to illustrate this framework with the case of Carrefour in both Spain and China.

Design/methodology/approach

In the form of a case study the paper explains global strategies in both countries. The paper also discusses similarities and differences in the supply chain management in both contexts.

The paper found application of core SCM concepts to a leader distribution firm. “Thinking global and acting local” is also pertinent to application in the management of supply chains.

Practical implications

Managers may identify key processes and consider the possible contributions of each to the efficiency of their own chains. This case study could be also used as an example of the successful management of the supply chain of a company leader in its sector.

Originality/value

The present paper illustrates a leader company based on real data.

• Distribution
• Process efficiency
• Supply chain management

Cambra‐Fierro, J. and Ruiz‐Benítez, R. (2011), "Notions for the successful management of the supply chain: learning with Carrefour in Spain and Carrefour in China", Supply Chain Management , Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 148-154. https://doi.org/10.1108/13598541111115392

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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As one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world, Carrefour is determined to take the lead and transform the future of digital retail. So, they came to us. Because we don’t just consult from the sidelines, we get the job done. Together, as partners, we’re building an approach to grocery that puts shoppers first.

The Imperative for Change

Grocery retail in France is facing seismic shifts: French shoppers are going to the traditional hypermarkets less and less; the shift toward healthy, locally-sourced food has become mainstream; and online grocery is accelerating but is highly competitive, combining leading local players, niche specialists and international retailers, such as Amazon, who are entering the market through partnerships.

Carrefour had great assets: a strong brand, an unparalleled mix of store formats and a loyal customer base. Yet their online assets didn’t play well together, mirroring organizational complexity with a tendency to become silos. Their digital footprint was fragmented and change didn’t always scale to make a significant impact.

The Transformative Solution

In January 2018, Carrefour’s newly appointed CEO announced a five billion euro turnover target for ecommerce over five years (20 percent of overall sales) and a key partnership with Publicis Sapient to drive digital business transformation.

Our goal was to enable Carrefour to behave like an enterprise startup. We began by shaping a strategy to create a cohesive, common digital vision that unified their digital assets to drive ecommerce growth, supporting their food transition strategy and building the foundation for the future—mobile, voice and personalization at scale. We did this by introducing a new scaled delivery model and breaking silos through integrated, diverse agile teams.

The Business Impact

After only six months, the first version of their new ecommerce platform was live. A year later the strategy had proven successful. The unified digital assets are driving massive ecommerce traffic, customer satisfaction is at its highest and their conversion rate has registered steady growth. But more importantly, the pace of change has massively accelerated with the capacity to deliver enhancements every day without downtime. Today, customer-centric, evidence based incremental transformation is a norm at Carrefour. The teams measure, iterate and swiftly react to customer feedback and behavior.

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