FrenchStuff-Group, S.A., is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 stores in 40 countries. It is the seventh-largest retailer in the world by revenue.

History

The first Carrefour shop (not a hypermarket) opened in 1960, within suburban Annecy, near a crossroads (hence the name ― carrefour means crossroads in French). The group was created in 1958 by Marcel Fournier, Denis Defforey and Jacques Defforey, who attended and were influenced by several seminars in the United States led by "the Pope of retail", Bernardo Trujillo. The Carrefour group was the first in Europe to open a hypermarket: a large supermarket and a department store under the same roof. They opened their first hypermarket on 15 June 1963 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris. In September 2009, Carrefour updated its logo. In May 2011, Carrefour reviewed its business situation under conditions of stagnant growth and increasing competition in France from rivals including Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, and decided to invest €1.5 billion ($2.22 billion) to introduce the supermarket concept of Carrefour Planet in Western Europe. In April 2015, Brazilian businessman Abílio Diniz revealed he was in talks to raise his 5.07 per cent stake in Carrefour and has the support of shareholders to take a board seat. On 9 June 2017, the board of directors chose Alexandre Bompard as the new chairman and chief executive officer of Carrefour with effect as of 18 July 2017. In 2017, Carrefour began working with a small French start-up, Expliceat, on a trial basis. In January 2018, Alexandre Bompard announced a strategic plan for the company, entitled "Carrefour 2022", that seeks to make Carrefour the "leader of the food transition for all". The plan includes measures for better food and package sustainability, limitation of food waste, development of organic products, e-commerce partnerships, and two billion euros in annual investments from 2018 as well as organisational and cost reduction measures. In the exceptional context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carrefour is the first retailer to join C'est qui le Patron ? initiative to share its additional incomes related to COVID-19 to support people who are suffering from the current situation. According to co-founder Nicolas Chabanne, 100,000 euros have been paid out, then 50,000 euros each week until 11 May. Carrefour's Board of Directors has decided to reduce by 50% the dividend proposed for 2019. The dividend is now €0.69 per share (versus €0.46 per share). Until the end of the year, Alexandre Bompard and all the members of Carrefour Group's board of directors have decided to waive 25% of their director's fees. These savings will be used to finance solidarity actions for the company's employees, both in France and abroad. Alexandre Bompard has decided to waive 25% of his fixed salary for a period of two months. To express his gratitude to his personnel in the field, he has decided to offer an exceptional bonus of €1,000 net to 85,000 employees in France.

Financial data

Domestic operations

The headquarters of the Groupe Carrefour is in Massy, in the Paris metropolitan area. In 2019, the former Carrefour head office of Boulogne-Billancourt and the Carrefour France division office of Courcouronnes, Essonne, near Évry, were combined at that major location. A secondary head office is located in Mondeville, near Caen (Normandy), which was until 1999 the former Promodès headquarters. In France, Carrefour operates under its name over 230 hypermarkets (from 2500 up to 23000 sq m sales area), 1020 Carrefour Market supermarkets (generally from 1000 up to 4000 sq m), and over 2000 smaller supermarkets and convenience stores under the Carrefour City, Carrefour Contact and Carrefour Express banners. Carrefour also owns the Promocash Cash&Carry chain (130 locations) and supplies 1500 independent small food stores under the Proxi banner. It has recently acquired the organic food chains SoBio and Bio C'Bon to boost its presence in this promising segment. In 2019, the group launched its first Supeco soft discount stores, which are so far all located in the French Northern region Hauts-de-France. The concept is still being assessed.

International operations

By 2024, the group had 14,000 stores in 40 countries.

Africa

Kenya

Carrefour has 20 outlets in Kenya, largely located in the suburbs of Nairobi. The retailer's expansion into Kenya has benefited from the failure of previously dominant supermarket chains such as Nakumatt and Uchumi as Carrefour rushed in to occupy the retail spaces and market share they vacated. The retailer is the anchor client of The Hub Karen Mall where it opened its first Kenyan store in May 2016. A second outlet was opened at Two Rivers Mall in March 2017, soon followed by a third store the Thika Road Mall in November 2017. The fourth outlet was opened at the Junction Mall along Ngong Road in January 2018; the fifth at Sarit Center in April 2018. In June 2020, Carrefour opened a new store along Uhuru Highway. In September 2020, Carrefour announced plans to continue its expansion efforts by opening three branches in the coastal city of Mombasa. In May 2021 it opened another branch of Carrefour Market in Garden City Mall along the Thika superhighwaty. It also has a branch at Westgate Mall previously occupied by ShopRite.

Uganda

Carrefour operates multiple stores in the Ugandan capital city of Kampala and Entebbe. The anchor clients are located at Oasis Mall and Metroplex and are in spaces previously occupied by the Kenyan retail chain Nakumatt. In September 2021 Carrefour signed an agreement with Shoprite of South Africa for the former to take over six stores that the latter would vacate in Uganda. This has increased Carrefour's presence in the country significantly. As of 2023, there are six outlets located in Kampala: Acacia Mall (Kissimenti), Arena Mall (Nsambya), Lugogo Mall (Nakawa), Metroplex (Naalya), Oasis Mall (Nakasero and Village Mall (Bugolobi). One outlet is located in Victoria Mall in Entebbe. West and Central Africa In 2013, Carrefour and the CFAO Group signed a contract for the opening of stores in West and Central Africa. With the first hypermarket opening on Playce Shopping Mall in Abidjan on 2015, Carrefour also has another hypermarket on Yaoundé.

East and South Asia

Pakistan

In 2009, Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in Lahore in a joint venture with Majid Al Futtaim Group, where it achieved ₨1 billion in revenues in its first year. It attracted more than 1 million customers every month. On 14 November 2011, Hyperstar opened its second hypermarket in the country in Karachi. On 22 March 2016, it expanded its operations to Islamabad by opening a 150000 sqft hypermarket in World Trade Center Islamabad. Since 20 December 2018, MAF has rebranded Hyperstar to Carrefour across Pakistan. It has plans to expand its stores to other cities including Gujranwala, Multan and Hyderabad. As of June 2019, the group had already invested ₨8 billion and was looking to invest another ₨40 billion in Pakistan. It is operating at least seven hypermarkets (three in Lahore, two in Karachi, one in Islamabad and one in Faisalabad's Lyallpur Galleria) and one superstore in Pakistan.

Taiwan

In 2020, Carrefour Taiwan announced they would acquire 199 Wellcome and 25 Jasons Market Place stores from Dairy Farm International. In 2022, Carrefour announced that it sold 60% equity of Carrefour Taiwan to Uni-President Enterprises Corporation.

Mongolia

On 17 February 2023, Carrefour opened its first two stores in the nations capital Ulaanbataar, with the partnership of Altan Joloo. As of 26 May 2023, it has four stores.

Europe (outside France)

In 1999, Carrefour entered the Greek market in collaboration with Marinopoulos S.A. Carrefour stopped operating in Greece in 2017 due to its acquisition by the Sklavenitis group. The company reopened in the country in May 2022, and the reactivation of the Carrefour brand in the market will be done in collaboration with Retail & more S.A., a subsidiary of the Teleunicom group. In 2001, Carrefour entered the Romanian market, expanded into 43 stores. It is one of the top retailers in Romania. The company operates in Spain under the name of Centros Comerciales Carrefour SA. As of 2019, Carrefour Spain is the 15th most important Spanish company by revenue. Eight years after bankruptcy (2016), Carrefour returned to Bulgaria. As of June 2024, there are stores open in Varna, Sofia and Burgas. In December 2023 Carrefour has announced the "return of stores and products" of its brand in Bulgaria through the Greek franchisee Retail & More, which will provide "sub-franchising of the Carrefour brand" for at least around 20 stores.

West Asia

Majid Al Futtaim has handled the Carrefour operations in the Middle East and North Africa region since 1995, as the company opened the region's first hypermarket at City Centre Deira – it initially was a Continent-branded store before it converted to Carrefour four years later. As of 2020, Majid Al Futtaim operates over 320 Carrefour stores in 16 countries, serving more than 750,000 customers daily and employing over 37,000 workers.

Iran

In February 2009, MAF opened its first store in Iran, called Iran Hyper Star.

Iraq

Majid al Futtaim opened the first Carrefour in Erbil in 2011. There is also a Family Mall Carrefour Department store in Sulaymaniyah. Along with several other international brands, as of June 2023, Carrefour has planned to opened another branch in the capital Baghdad. Also on October 3rd 2024, Carrefour has opened its h biggest store in Iraq located in the capital Baghdad for the 1st time.

Israel

In March 2022, Carrefour signed a franchising agreement with Electra Consumer Products to discontinue the Yeinot Bitan and Mega Ba'ir chains of stores and rebrand them as Carrefour branches. In July 2023, Carrefour stated that it would not be opening branches in the West Bank.

Lebanon

On 4 April 2013, Majid al Futtaim inaugurated a Carrefour hypermarket at their City Centre Beirut mall, in the Hazmieh suburb of Beirut. In September 2017, a second Carrefour outlet opened at the CityMall Dora, replacing a venue formerly held by a Monop' hypermarket. In June 2018, a third outlet opened at the Tower Center mall in Zouk Mosbeh. In February 2019, a fourth Carrefour, and the first supermarket format venue, opened within the Aley District. The fourth Carrefour is considered a major step for the company's expansion in Lebanon.

United Arab Emirates

On 1 March 2022, Carrefour opened in City Centre Me'aisem in Dubai its first Bio store.

South America

Around 605 stores are in operation in Argentina. Carrefour Brasil, the largest market outside France, was founded in 1975 and today is the major supermarket chain in Brazil in competition with Grupo Pão de Açúcar. Currently it sells more than 25 million products per year. Carrefour Dominican Republic, opened its first store in Santo Domingo in 2000 and it has expanded to other smaller stores in the city called Carrefour Market and Carrefour City with a total of five (5) stores in 2023. Because of its popular products and accessible prices, Carrefour has remained as a preferred supermarket option in the capital of the Dominican Republic.

Former international operations

Carrefour Foundation

The Carrefour Foundation (Fondation d'Enterprise Carrefour) is a philanthropic fund created by Carrefour in 2000 to support social welfare programmes 'linked to [its] core business as a retailer' in countries the company operates and in countries where its suppliers are located.

Criticism and controversies

On 1 May 2007, more than 30 employees of the now-closed Carrefour Ratu Plaza, Jakarta, Indonesia, were taken to the Pertamina Central Hospital after being affected by carbon monoxide. The hypermarket was located in the mall's basement, which offered insufficient ventilation. On 26 June 2007, the company was convicted in a French court for false advertising. The suit alleged that Carrefour regularly stocked insufficient quantities of advertised products for sale. In addition, the company was convicted of selling products below cost and accepting kickbacks from wholesalers. Carrefour was ordered to pay a fine of €2 million and to prominently and legibly display a notice in all of its French stores disclosing the false advertising. In Carrefour Mangga Dua Square in Jakarta, Indonesia, a 5-metre high metal rack fell on top of a 3-year-old boy, killing him almost instantly due to internal bleeding. Afterwards, the victim's family claimed that Carrefour has refused to meet with them to settle the case. However, a Carrefour Corporate Affairs Officer denied this allegation. Carrefour has also received criticism for engaging in sweatshop practices. On 7 May 2009, the French government asked a tribunal to fine Carrefour some €220,000 for more than 2,500 violations. Meat products lacked proper tracking information (more than 25% of inventory at some locations), and some products had incorrect labels – such as meat products that "shrank" in weight by 15% after receiving labels. The chain sold products that had long since passed their expiration dates, including, in one case, packs of baby formula that had expired six months earlier. Some 1,625 frozen and refrigerated products were found that had been stored in warehouses at ambient temperatures. On 17 September 2018 images revealed that the municipal slaughterhouse in Boischaut, France, responsible for supplying meat to Carrefour, was killing animals in an extremely cruel way: cutting them up while they were still alive. The mistreatment scandal reverberated around the world and led to the closure of the slaughterhouse. On 10 January 2019 the French branch made the news after selling zebra meat, Carrefour said it stopped selling the meat.

Boycott of supplies in China

In April 2008, after the 2008 Olympic torch relay was disrupted by Tibetan independence movement advocates in London and especially in Paris, where some protesters attempted to wrest control of the torch from the torch bearers, Chinese activists promoted boycotting Carrefour because of unsubstantiated rumours that the company gave funds to Tibetan independence groups and the Dalai Lama. In its response, Carrefour China stated that it did support the Beijing Olympics; and that it would never do anything to harm the feelings of the Chinese people. Protests and calls for the boycott later subsided, partly because of efforts by French officials to apologize for the Paris torch attack.

Building collapse at Savar

On 24 April 2013, the eight-story Rana Plaza commercial building collapsed in Savar, a sub-district near Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. At least 1,127 people died and over 2,438 were injured. The factory housed a number of separate garment factories employing around 5,000 people, several shops, and a bank and manufactured apparel for brands including the Benetton Group, Joe Fresh, The Children's Place, Primark, Monsoon, and Dressbarn. Of the 29 brands identified as having sourced products from the Rana Plaza factories, only 9 attended meetings held in November 2013 to agree a proposal on compensation to the victims. Several companies refused to sign, including Walmart, Carrefour, Bonmarché, Mango, Auchan and KiK. The agreement was signed by Primark, Loblaw, Bonmarche and El Corte Ingles.

Slavery in Thailand

In 2014, The Guardian reported that Carrefour is a client of Charoen Pokphand Foods. During a six-month investigation, The Guardian traced the entire supply chain from slave ships in Asian waters to leading producers and retailers.

Incidents of violence in Brazil

In Brazil, from 2007 onwards, the chain suffered at least four lawsuits against violence, racism and homophobia, in addition to an execution against a man who stole 4 pieces of chicken meat, for public humiliation against employees and violence against children. In one of the cases, a black man who owned an EcoSport was mistaken for a thief, taken by third-party security into the network and physically and psychologically tortured for more than 15 minutes, in addition to hearing insults referring to his black color. The network removed the security and discredited the third-party security company. Another case of beatings followed by death occurred at the Supermercado Dia e Noite store, a subsidiary of the Carrefour group in São Carlos. The theft of two cheese breads, some drumsticks and hair cream, committed by bricklayer Ademir Peraro, aged 43 at the time, led to his beating by the store supervisor and a security guard. After the end of torture, the victim was locked in the bathroom until the store closed, when he was thrown into the street. Rescued by family members, he was taken to the hospital; before dying, the mason was able to report the torture he was subjected to. The most costly lawsuit for Carrefour so far was in the amount of R$50,000, followed by another for R$44,640. In December 2010, a Freezer electrocuted and killed a girl in an Atacadão supermarket, the Freezer was investigated. On 31 January 2011 the Santo André branch made the news after a stray dog was beaten by employees and customers of the Atacadão supermarket. In November 2014, the Atacadão supermarket was sentenced to pay R$ 300,000 for moral damages, According to the Public Ministry of Labor of Alagoas (MPT) this Wednesday (19), the Atacado Comércio e Indústria LTDA supermarket, located in the upper zone of Maceió, it is not authorized to perform intimate searches on its employees, a practice that the company frequently engages in. On 2 July 2015 the Vila Velha branch became news after a cat was beaten by Atacadão employees, the case was reported to the authorities, and Carrefour issued a note repudiating the case. In February 2017, an employee of the chain in Goiânia shot three customers, one of them died, and two others were injured, the employee was arrested, and Carrefour issued a note repudiating the case. On 20 October 2018 a black and disabled customer was attacked by chain employees in Osasco, after opening a can of beer inside the store and saying he would pay for it. The company became aware of the case, employees were fired. On 28 November 2018, a mixed-breed dog named Manchinha was poisoned and later beaten to death with an aluminum bar by one of the security guards at a Carrefour store in the city of Osasco, São Paulo. The episode, known as the Manchinha case or Caso Manchinha, sparked a series of protests led by activists in front of the Osasco store in December 2018, and also inspired the creation of bill PL 1.095/2019, which was later approved by the executive and turned into a federal law in September 2020, imposing harsher penalties to crimes related to animal abuse. On 5 January 2019 the Rio de Janeiro branch made the news after 15 cats were killed by poisoning by supermarket employees. The company became aware of the case, and carried out a census to determine the animals that resided in its units so that it could rescue them and direct them to shelters. On 11 February 2019 an elderly person was expelled from the network in Anápolis after being mistaken for a homeless person, Carrefour issued a note repudiating the case. On 16 May 2019 Carrefour was banned by the Court from controlling employee visits to the bathroom. In 2020, two death-related incidents were reported in Brazil. The first one happened in August when a sales representative died of a heart attack. To allow the store to continue operating, other workers hid his body in a barricade made out of umbrellas and cardboard boxes. On 19 November 2020, one day before the Brazilian holiday Black Awareness Day, a 40-year-old black man named João Alberto Silveira Freitas was killed by security guards after an altercation with a cashier. After an alleged "violent gesture" to one of the cashiers, two security guards were called, proceeded to drag the man out of the store and beat him to death in the parking lot. Both security guards were arrested and charged with qualified homicide. On 3 August 2021 a stray dog was shot with an indigenous weapon from the Atacadão establishment by an Atacadão Employee in Mato Grosso do Sul, Later, the Employee was indicted for the crime of mistreatment of animals. On 4 May 2021 a water channel was stained with oil by a carrefour employee in Santos., The company was fined BRL 12,555,000 for what happened. In October 2021, a video that one of the customers recorded on social networks showed one of the Carrefour employees being humiliated by the manager in Mato Grosso do Sul. She was later removed from office. On 8 April 2023, Vinicius, husband of volleyball player Fabiana, was prevented from being seen due to his color. On 10 April 2023, teacher Isabel Oliveira, 43, took off her clothes inside a supermarket in Curitiba (PR) in protest against racism. She was reportedly followed by security. On 8 May 2023 a couple accused of theft in Salvador was attacked by network security guards. The company became aware of the case, terminated the contract with the security company and reported the attacks to the Civil Police of Itapuã. On 9 May 2023 residents of Cabula expressed their dissatisfaction with works by the Carrefour Group that caused damage to houses and condominiums in Salvador.

Deforestation in Amazonia

According to Mighty Earth, Carrefour is not respecting its commitments to fight deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. In a report at the occasion of the 2022 World Amazon Day, Mighty Earth published a statement criticising the retail group for sourcing from "meat and soy traders with devastating practices." The organisation points to the group's activities in Brazil where, with its 1,000 sales outlets, Carrefour controls 25% of the food distribution market. The NGO found that two-thirds of the 102 meat products inspected in Carrefour stores in Brazil are supplied by JBS, which is "regularly targeted for deforestation cases", according to Mighty Earth. Following the report publication, Carrefour suspended beef supplies from two JBS slaughterhouses in the Amazon.

Stabbing in Italy

On 27 October 2022, a man grabbed a knife from a supermarket shelf in Milan, stabbing five people, killing one and wounding four others, including Spanish soccer player Pablo Mari, Italian authorities said. Police arrested a 46-year-old Italian man suspected in the attack at a shopping centre in Assago (a town near Milan).

Mobile

Carrefour Mobile is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) owned by Carrefour. Carrefour offers its mobile telephony services in: Carrefour first launched its mobile service in Belgium, in partnership with Effortel and using Effortel Technologies as Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE), on the existing BASE network infrastructure. In France, this offer was launched by exploiting the infrastructure of the Orange network and using the company Experian as MVNE. This operator first offered prepaid offers, and since September 2007 has offered packages. Carrefour Mobile's offer is in competition with that offered by A-Mobile, of the Auchan group. Since then, Carrefour has launched a service in several other countries, in particular, Carrefour was the first MVNO in Italy, launching the service in June 2007, in partnership with Effortel. On 24 September 2012 the MVNO offer stopped in France but the brand maintained a specific offer provided by Orange.