Carrefour China - French Hypermarket Retail Chain Essay

Carrefour China - French Hypermarket Retail Chain - Essay Example With sales reaching 78 billion dollars annually, Carrefour stands as the second largest retailer after Walmart, in the world market. (Lin and Liang, 2002). Carrefour has established its presence in Asian countries like Malaysia, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Singapore. Though its growth in the Chinese market has been restricted by the governmental regulations like the mandatory requirement of a local joint-venture partner, Carrefour has increased its market share and successfully followed a policy of regional penetration in China. Carrefour has slowly and steadily made a foray in the retail industry in China, largely by taking up strategic local partners. With an agreement with the Guangzhou General Merchandise Group of south Chinas Guangdong province, the French company has laid the foundation of a lucrative joint venture in 2002. It also has joint venture undertakings in Kunming, the capital of southwest Chinas Yunnan province, and in Harbin, the capital of northernmost Heilongjiang province. 2 (Xinhua News Agency, 2002). Carrefour operates over 71 supermarkets across China and has been said to have purchased a total of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars worth of commodities from China in the year 2001. 3 (Xinhua News Agency, 2002). The latest Carrefour store became operational in January 2006, in Shanghai. The main competitors of Carrefour are Wal-Mart China, with 42 stores in the country, and Germany-based Metro Group, with 29 stores. 4. (China Frenchiser, 2006). Carrefour has an array of over 600 products sold through its retail stores and hypermarkets spread across diverse Chinese regions. Its products include grocery, detergent and personal care goods, fish farm and poultry, dairy and milk, snacks, bakery, snacks, frozen foods and beverages, and non-food items like kitchen-grade utensils. In addition to the above, Carrefour also stocks electrical goods, clothes, toiletries, luggage accessories and cleaning products. 5(Carrefour, 2006). The Carrefour stores are based on the concept of self-service, that provides the customer with the freedom to browse the products at their pace and thus exposing them to attractive display and packaging.