Carrefour is an international retail chain with its headquarters located in Levallois-Perret, France. Carrefour operates mainly in the European Union, South America, East Asia and Northern Africa. It is currently the number 1 retail group in Europe and number 2 retail group worldwide in terms of revenue after Wal-Mart. Carrefour has 12 547 stores, 456 295 employees in 29 countries worldwide. Carrefour’s first store was opened in 1960, in Annecy, France and today the original store is still operating and is the smallest Carrefour location in the world. The Carrefour group pioneered the idea of a ‘hypermarket,’ which is a large outlet consisting of both a grocery store and department store under one roof. Carrefour’s fist ‘hypermarket’ opened in 1963, in Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois, France.
Over the years Carrefour has created many of its own products and services. A couple of examples are; in 1976, Carrefour introduced it own unbranded line of products “Produits Libres,” in 1981, they introduced their own payment card “the Pass Card,” and in 1984, they launched Carrefour Insurance Services. In its home country of France, Carrefour saw and continues to see growth and expansion through acquisition of competitors and from within. France is home to 3857 stores of the Carrefour group or about 31% of Carrefour’s total number of outlets worldwide. France is still Carrefour’s main customer, accounting for approximately 48% of Carrefour’s global sales or €77 901 million in 2006.
Carrefour and its major developments in France
The Carrefour group is a French leading distribution groups. It is the second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue after Wal-Mart and the largest in Europe and so in France. Carrefour stores are very large retail facility which carries an enormous range of products under one roof, including full lines of groceries and general merchandise.
The French market is the biggest for