carrefour in china case study

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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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Carrefour China Market Entry Strategy

• August 12, 2015
• Carrefour China , china market entry , Distribution China , enter China market , how Carrefour entered China market , international strategy Carrefour , mass-market retail China

250 cities with a population over 1 million and a steady rise in living standards…  For the mass-market retailing, China offers limitless opportunities; more than for any other market segment. However, along with opportunities, foreign brands come up with numerous challenges regarding customers’ tastes, which are highly accurate in China. International brands, which are currently leading the market, had to adopt sophisticated marketing strategies to gain the interest of new customers when entering the long market time ago. Carrefour, when targeting Chinese market in 1995, was facing considerable challenges before it became a market leader. Our focus is on Carrefour China market entry strategy.

[button animation=”bounceInUp” animation_delay=”200″ animation_iteration=”1″ style=”1″ color=”#555555″ hover_color=”#000″ background_color=”#1e497c” icon=”icon-briefcase” icon_upload=”” icon_position=”centre” url=”https://daxueconseil.fr/carrefour-en-chine-strategie-de-conquete-de-marche/” target=”_blank” align=”alignnone”]Read the French version here[/button]

Chinese Traditions cannot be neglected when entering China market

A part of Carrefour China market entry strategy , adopted by the firm when entering the Chinese market in 1995, was “learning-by-doing.” At that time, the market was not well explored by researchers and international companies, which could give a reliable advice on Chinese customers’ tastes. As a result, at the first stages, Carrefour was exploring the market, observing customers’ behavior and correcting existing marketing strategies. Before entering China, Carrefour was operating in Taiwan for seven years. This experience largely helped the company to suit new customers tastes as long as both Eastern cultures are quite similar. In 1995, foreign investors could not directly operate retail stores. Therefore, the company entered the market as a local partner of Shanghai Hualian Company , which had a close relationship with the government at that time. This “partnership” led to rapid expansion of Carrefour in Shanghai. Carrefour China market entry strategy was primary to target first-tier cities, which were not saturated with many producers at that time. Location plays a major role in the market strategy of the company. Shops are primarily located at the crossroads, where one of the roads must be a thoroughfare. “Carrefour” in French means “crossing.” In Shanghai, the company has located its shops in the areas of above average income level including major business districts and central residential areas.

The Chinese name of Carrefour is “家乐福” (Jia le fu), which means “family, happiness, and love.” These three characters are equally important in Chinese culture; 福 (fu) is traditionally used during Chinese New Year.

Chinese Consumer tastes vary across China’s regions

To optimized Carrefour’s China market entry strategy, local consultants did in-store observation and surveys. If the majority of customers are foreigners, as in the Shanghai Hongqiao Carrefour store , the company imports foreign products, in particular, wine and cheese. On the contrary, if Chinese customers are prevailing, shops have a greater variety of brands and longer shelves. This is because Chinese customers traditionally appreciate the variety of food and like to compare and contrast different types of products. Moreover, Carrefour learned that the clients’ tastes differ across China. For example, the beer Tsingtao is consumed by everyone in Quingdao , but in Beijing, everyone drinks local beer. It learned that customers in coastal cities preferred to buy fresh fish while West and Middle China gave preference to frozen fish. When Carrefour adopted this strategy, fish sales went up by over 30%.

As it was mentioned above, market entry strategy is critical when entering the Chinese market. Even a powerful brand as Carrefour, which is highly popular among Chinese customers now, had to face various challenges in its first stages in China.

More about China market entry strategy

https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/oh/IRET/Student%20Experience/Carrefour%20Essay%20Edited.pdf

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Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal

ISSN : 1352-7606

Article publication date: 25 October 2011

The purpose of this paper is to combine secondary sources and interviews with Chinese suppliers to explore the structural paradox faced by retail multinational firms in China as they balance the competing demands of standardization and localization. The authors describe the challenges faced by two retail giants, Walmart and Carrefour, as they attempt to replicate in China their lean retailing successes elsewhere in the world.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a comparative study of Walmart's and Carrefour's ventures into the Chinese market, largely based on publicly available secondary sources, but also incorporating interviews with three Chinese nationals engaged in supplying these firms.

Walmart and Carrefour have so far failed to extend their oligopolistic dominance to the Chinese market. Walmart has stressed its well‐known standardization of operations, whereas Carrefour has better adapted to the Chinese economic culture. Issues identified are: the formation of partnership alliances and their impact on store location choice; the effect of under‐developed infrastructure on distribution and logistics; the unique Chinese business culture – guanxi (using social capital to build business relationships) and its influence on supplier relationships; the variety of consumer behavior and its effect on procurement and sourcing; and an immature information technology environment which impedes information sharing between supply chain partners. While both firms have had some degree of success, neither has been able to match the combined growth of their larger Chinese competitors.

Research limitations/implications

The authors are cautious in drawing normative conclusions or making predictions about the future. Both firms face significant obstacles as they challenge China's largest domestic retailers.

Originality/value

Many multinational corporations are aware of the topology of the Chinese market, what they lack is an in‐depth understanding and the skills needed for effective operations. This paper discusses the effectiveness of the strategies adopted by two leading global retailers as they attempt to resolve the paradox presented by the competing demands for standardization and localization and includes information provided by three of Walmart's and Carrefour's local Chinese suppliers.

• Multinational companies
• Globalization
• Standardization
• Localization
• Chinese business culture
• Structural paradox
• Retail multinational corporations

Chuang, M. , Donegan, J.J. , Ganon, M.W. and Wei, K. (2011), "Walmart and Carrefour experiences in China: resolving the structural paradox", Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal , Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 443-463. https://doi.org/10.1108/13527601111179519

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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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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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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A Comparative Study of Strategies Adopted by Wal-Mart and Carrefour in China: A Resource-Based Perspective Acknowledgements

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Supply chain management is a key of retail enterprises survival and development. For a better understanding, we intended to illustrate this concept with the case of Wal-Mart and Carrefour in China. In this article, we focused on the Wal-Mart and Carrefour's supply chain management strategies in China, introduced the supply chain management from four parts. " Customer is the first consideration! " and " Thinking global and acting local " are also pertinent to application in the management of supply chains. Managers may identify key processes and consider the possible contributions of each to the efficiency of their own chains. Through comparisons of supply chain management between Wal-Mart and Carrefour's strategies in China to give Chinese local retail enterprises enlightenment, and should help those wishing to explore the uniqueness of the Chinese market and the challenges that will be encountered when expanding their businesses in China.

International Journal of Business and Management

Richard Chinomona , Dennis Sibanda

Review of Capital as Power

Joseph Baines

This article offers a power theory of value analysis of Wal-Mart’s contested expansion in the retail business. More specifically, it draws on, and develops, some aspects of the capital as power framework so as to provide the first clear quantitative explication of the company’s power trajectory to date. After rapid growth in the first four decades of its existence, the power of Wal-Mart appears to be flat-lining relative to dominant capital as a whole. The major problems for Wal-Mart lie in the fact that its green-field growth is running into barriers, while its cost cutting measures seem to be approaching a floor. The article contends that these problems are in part born out of resistance that Wal-Mart is experiencing at multiple social scales. The case of Wal-Mart may tell us about the wider limits of corporate power within contemporary capitalism; and the research methods outlined here may be of use to scholars seeking to conduct political-economic research on the pecuniary trajectories of other major firms.

na-businesspress.com

Yi Zhu (朱　藝)

Despite encouraging signs, India's retail market remains largely off-limits to large international retailers like Wal-Mart and Carrefour. Opposition to liberalizing FDI in this sector raises concerns about employment losses, unfair competition resulting in large-scale exit of incumbent domestic retailers and infant industry arguments to protect the organized domestic retail sector that is at a nascent stage. Based on international evidence, we suggest that allowing entry by large international retailers into the Indian market may help tackle inflation especially in food prices. Moreover, technical know-how from foreign firms, such as warehousing technologies and distribution systems can improve supply chain efficiency in India, in particular for agricultural produce. Better linkages between demand and supply have the potential to improve the price signals that farmers receive and also serve to enhance agricultural and other exports.

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management

Enrico Colla

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Generative AI: Using artificial intelligence to make human impact. Learn how

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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