As Carrefour looks to evolve its 2022 Transformation Plan and embed initiatives to help it win in its key countries, we look at developments in its home market and Italy.

Carrefour goes 24 hours in France

Local trade publication LSA has reported that Carrefour has opened its first 24-hour store in France, following successful trials in Italy and Spain. The Carrefour City in Paris’s 7th arrondissement is set to see its already long opening hours extended to enable shoppers to buy from it at any time of the day. Between 23.30 and 07.00 shoppers will use one of eight self-checkouts to pay for their products. If the move proves successful, Carrefour could extend 24 hour operating times to further stores.

Bio banner to sell only seasonal produce

As it looks to evolve its offer at its Bio banner, Carrefour has said it will only sell seasonal fruit and vegetables at these stores. The change is part of Carrefour’s Act for Food programme and follows a three-month trial period. The retailer said the decision was made to meet growing shopper demand for locally-grown organic seasonal produce. To spotlight the change to its offer, Carrefour said it would run an in-store educational poster campaign. The retailer said it will also look to implement the change at four hypermarkets and four supermarkets too.

Carrefour Italy aiming to better target shoppers

In conjunction with proximity marketing company JoinTag, Carrefour Italy has said it is looking to use the former’s Kariboo platform to better target shoppers at over 200 Carrefour Market and 40 hypermarkets in the country. Kariboo uses localisation tools, apps, and iBeacons to enable retailers to interact with customers in-store, in front of products, and near the point of sale via targeted push notifications.

The SPAR Austria Group, which includes operations across its home market, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia, said its total sales rose 4.7% to €15.05bn. The performance, which includes non-grocery format Hervis and its shopping centre business, was driven by its strong growth in Austria, where it said it outperformed the market, and in its international operations.

SPAR grows ‘faster than the market’ in Austria…

Announcing the results, SPAR Austria said it grew twice as fast as the market, expanding sales by 4% during 2018. Positively for the company, the growth was driven by a rise in like-for-like sales, given that the number of stores under the SPAR brand dropped to 1,560, from 1,616. The change in store numbers came despite the company opening 30 new stores and was affected by the ending of its partnership with Shell and the closure of stores on its petrol forecourts.

…Aided by success of private label ranges

SPAR Austria said its private label ranges continued to underpin its success in the country. It said the more than 5,000 products under its own label accounted for more than 40% of sales, having grown by 6% in 2018. Other ranges grew even faster, with SPAR saying its S-Budget brand saw sales rise 11%, Natur*pur by 14%, Premium by 13% and Vital by 10%.

Success across all operations

In its markets outside Austria, SPAR said sales rose 7.2% to €5.7bn. By country it said sales grew by 4.2% in Italy, to €2.25bn, by 9.8% in Hungary, to €1.94bn, by 4.1% in Slovenia, to €816m, and by 14.6% to €688m in Croatia.

As discounters look to expand their presence in new locations and target shoppers with new ranges we have seen several new store designs opened across Europe.

Lidl continues to innovate, opening its smallest store in Munich’s city centre. Separately, Norma in Germany and Eurospin in Italy are opening their largest formats.

Lidl’s smallest store in Germany

On 25 February, Lidl opened its smallest store in Germany, in Munich. The store is 503 sq m, less than half the traditional size and offers 80% of the standard range. The strategy for Lidl is to secure space near city centres and to attract new shoppers in areas where it currently underperforms.

Most categories have been reduced, but the store still carries the retailer’s entire fresh food offer.  For the entire assortment to fit in, an additional shelf has been added to all shelves in ambient. No specific focus has been given to food-to-go as the store aims to provide local shoppers with a similar range to its standard stores. Four stores with the same format will open in 2019 in Munich.

Norma builds larger stores and increases range

In the meantime, Norma has announced it will build larger stores and increase its ranges to match Aldi and Lidl’s newest store formats. The new stores have an area of up to 1,200 sq m, which will enable Norma to add 160 SKUs to its existing range of 1,500 SKUs. Most of the new products will be in the chilled and fresh food categories, offering a better selection to shoppers. The discounter will continue its renovation program in 2019 following the upgrade of 100 stores in 2018. Norma currently operates 1,300 stores in Germany and generates a total turnover of €3.58bn (FY2018)

Eurospin’s latest superstore concept

The Italian discounter has introduced its new superstore concept, in Legnago (Verona region). The store, with a sales area of 1,600sq m, offers a wider than usual selection of fresh food. Shoppers can get fresh meat cuts from the butcher. For the first time Eurospin has introduced a bakery counter, extending its range of services with a focus on fresh and quality.

Non-food special buys are still present, but posters have been added to inform shoppers they can also order items online.

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