Six Strategies For Carrefour Marketing Of Retail Giants

Carrefour, France Retail The leader of the leading company was founded in 60s. Headquartered in the outskirts of Paris, after 40 years of continuous development, mergers and acquisitions, from an area of 2500 square meters of shops to develop into a chain of multinational companies around the world, becoming second only to the United States. Wal-Mart The balloon is the second largest retailer. Currently, Carrefour has 9486 branches and employs 240 thousand people. What is the secret of Carrefour's creation of today's brilliance in just a few decades? After careful analysis, Carrefour has to admire Carrefour and consistently adhere to the following six strategies in the course of its operation.

Super scale strategy

In June 15, 1963, when V Marcel Fournier, the founder of France, opened a large shop with a total area of over 2500 square meters and had 500 parking spaces called Carrefour in the southern suburb of 25 kilometers away from Paris. Many retailers thought Fournier was a whimsical and impossible success. There is a consensus in the retail industry over a long period of time that supermarkets should not be too large, because if the target customers do not meet the requirements of the supermarket scale, let alone profit, normal operation is difficult to maintain. In addition, the investment is large and the risk is great. Once the business problems arise, investors will lose their weight. However, he does not think so. In his opinion, only when the supermarket is large, can customers meet all kinds of needs and avoid customers returning to empty space because of their narrow selection. Large scale sales can enable Carrefour to enjoy preferential price discounts from large-scale purchases, thereby reducing costs. Compared with other stores, Carrefour's giant supermarket has advantages over employees, facilities and space, thereby reducing costs. In addition, Carrefour has a large variety of business. There are food, food materials, daily groceries, daily medicines and even flowers. Carrefour's low price and a wide variety of goods have a great attraction to customers, thus making it a great success.

The large scale of Carrefour is mainly reflected in the following aspects: first, the shop area is large, located in a Carrefour store in Toulouse, France, covering an area of 24400 square meters. Customers can skate on the roller skates and shop. The two is the large parking lot. Carrefour maintains 100th square meters of business space in the parking lot, and there are 20 parking spaces. The three is the collection desk. In order to reduce customer time, Carrefour has set up an export checkout area for every 200 square meters, ensuring that there is no crowding in shopping malls. Four, the scope of service is large. Carrefour provides a package of services to customers. When they enter Carrefour, they can also sell their satisfied products, and customers can shop, eat, entertain, even if they are willing to take care of their children. In addition, the bank also provides bank deposits, credit card payment and other services.

Two, transnational business strategy

Facing the limited market space, fierce market competition and various restrictions of the government, Carrefour has to extend its tentacles to the world in order to find new growth points. In order to realize its own transnational economic strategy and reduce obstacles to transnational operation, Carrefour first entered southern European countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy. Because in Carrefour's view, because these countries are adjacent to France, they are closer to France in terms of geography, culture and customs, and relatively easy to enter. Subsequently, Carrefour expanded to all Europe, central and South America and Asia.

Carrefour's global outlets are reasonably distributed, forming a strategic layout of "growing branches + cash flow outlets". In China, Thailand, India, Brazil, Argentina and other markets with huge potential for sale, Carrefour first seized the beach and occupied a commanding height. It has broad prospects for development. Its branches in France, Belgium, Spain and southern Europe have strong sales revenue and are very stable. The two phases cooperate to make Carrefour withstand regional economic fluctuations and have strong market expansion capability. In France, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy, Carrefour has become the largest retailer.

At the same time, Carrefour has benefited greatly from the cross regional and cross-cultural management structure and experience. Carrefour's rich experience in Taiwan has laid the foundation for its further expansion in Hongkong, Singapore and Mainland China.

Three, low price strategy

Low price has always been a magic weapon for Carrefour's success. Carrefour has been trying to control and reduce costs through various channels.

First of all, Carrefour's large-scale business strategy will enable it to achieve the scale effect of modern large business. This scale effect can also be transformed into a company's low cost advantage through massive, mass purchase and quantity discount. The size of Carrefour can also greatly reduce its distribution costs.

Secondly, Carrefour is good at supplying goods to suppliers. The total payment terms signed with suppliers are "60 days in a month". 60 days are not a short time. Especially, the faster the goods are sold, the more money the supplier will invest into Carrefour. Carrefour eats the suppliers' liquidity as a carp. With the turnover of suppliers' funds, Carrefour's own working capital will be less occupied, which will greatly save Carrefour's capital cost. The supplier also had to watch the "hen" eggs produced by their hens. However, Carrefour's sales volume is large, its credit standing is good, and its varieties can be accepted. This is an incomparable advantage of others. Another Carrefour also asked the supplier for many favorable terms and sponsorship. Therefore, even if the payment is delayed for 60 days, there will be a swallow like amount of food, plus a supply price that is pressed to the lowest point.

Third, Carrefour's turnover is fast. Carrefour has strong purchasing power and ability to negotiate with suppliers, which provides a guarantee for the rapid turnover of its products. The rapid turnover of commodities and the less liquidity will greatly reduce the cost of capital.

In addition, Carrefour tends to localize in choosing commodities. The structure of its commodities will be adjusted accordingly due to the consumption habits and consumption psychology of different countries or regions. In China, in order to meet the principle of cheap and applicable, more than 90% of its commodities are purchased from local suppliers. Carrefour has increased the supply of similar goods on the shelves to meet the needs of Chinese people. Localization of goods also saved Carrefour's transportation costs and distribution costs. In addition, in order to reduce circulation and reduce operating costs, Carrefour also developed its own brand goods.

All of this is the strong backing of Carrefour's low price strategy. With all this, Carrefour can always keep its price low and keep its customers heartbeat. With all these Carrefour, there will be many special items that fall below the wholesale price, which will be a great temptation to customers.

Four, localization and alliance strategy

Localization strategy has become an important strategy for multinational corporations to extend to the world. Carrefour pays special attention to the localization of its branches. From employee to merchandise to shelf display, localization is practiced. Zhan Wei Shi, manager of Malian Road store in Carrefour, Beijing, believes that localization of employees makes it easier for companies to integrate their business ideas into business because local employees know more about local culture, habits and customs. Carrefour's decision to open a branch requires detailed and rigorous investigation and demonstration of factors such as local culture, lifestyle and purchasing power. Bernard, chief executive of Carrefour, said: "a retail outlet is a microcosm of the country in which it has to adapt to the local culture." In China, the vegetable cutting method in Carrefour's branch will never be a cross cutting method in Europe. It must be a Chinese slant or vertical cut method. In Brazil, Carrefour's eggs are never stacked up, because eggs should be laid on a single layer according to local customs. More than 90% of Carrefour products are purchased from local suppliers, and their display is also based on local consumption habits and consumer psychology. For example, in China, consumers like to choose their favorite products from large quantities of goods and then buy them. To cater for the "picking" habit of Chinese consumers, Carrefour's shelves have increased the supply of similar commodities to facilitate customers to choose.

When multinational retailers enter new countries or regions, they will have the support of purchasing and human resources, and be familiar with local market in the short term. They will often adopt alliances strategy and choose to form strategic partners with local experienced retailers. Carrefour is the best partner to choose. Wherever it goes, it will actively seek out local experienced retailers and establish good concordance with them. In 1989, when Carrefour entered Taiwan, it launched a joint venture with Carrefour Taipei store and Kaohsiung store, and formed a strategic alliance. The unified enterprise is the largest food manufacturer in Taiwan, which benefits Carrefour. Even after Carrefour's advance into mainland China's cities: Beijing, Wuhan and Chengdu, the unified enterprises also give Carrefour various forms of strong support in publicity, supply and promotion.

Five, catching up and planning strategy

Carrefour's future strategic objective is to catch up with WAL-MART in 10 years. To achieve this goal, Carrefour headquarters set up a global strategic plan for 2005 in early 2000.

Expanding branches to enter the North American market

Carrefour is restricted by the domestic market and the government. Its branch business area and turnover are quite different from that of WAL-MART. In order to make up for this gap, Carrefour has launched the "super market" plan, which is directly related to WAL-MART's "Super Center" branch.

North America, the world's most powerful purchasing power market, is very attractive to Carrefour, both in terms of its own development goals and in catching up with the goals of WAL-MART. There is a takeover centered North American expansion plan in Carrefour's plan.

Six. Expand the information network of electronic commerce.

In e-commerce, Carrefour's goal is to become an online comprehensive service provider from the financial services to downloading various services on the Internet. Therefore, to increase its strength in e-commerce, Carrefour plans to invest $900 million in 3 years to establish strategic alliances with 50 ISP and portals in Europe, Asia and Latin America.