Supermarkets: making life easier

Carrefour group supermarkets offer their customers in town and country a wealth of choice close to where they live. Located in town, out of town and in rural areas, with surface areas ranging from 1,000 to over 2,000 sq.m, our supermarkets offer a range of some 10,000 listings, most of them food, at highly competitive prices. Our rural stores are currently developing a broader offering of non-food products, such as clothing and household goods.
In 2007, the Carrefour Group opened 326 supermarkets, mainly in Europe, and moved faster to update this format, constantly striving to make the shopping experience easier for its customers.
Setting course for Eastern Europe : Ten years after the Group first set foot in Poland, the integration of 183 Ahold Polska supermarkets vaulted Carrefour to the second spot in the food retailing sector. In Romania, Carrefour's acquisition of Artima gave the Group a foothold in the supermarket segment, providing visibility to the new Carrefour Express banner the 21 supermarkets will display in 2008. At year-end 2007, the Carrefour Group had 2,708 supermarkets in 10 countries.
Single-brand strategy moves forward : In Spain, all the supermarkets have switched to the Carrefour Express banner, and in Brazil to Carrefour Bairro. Customers have come to know and enjoy the Carrefour brand in a format other than the hypermarket. To prove the point, sales have risen by 30% in Spain based on comparable floor area. In Poland, Belgium, Turkey and Argentina, the Carrefour brand has gradually replaced local retailers, including Globi, GB, Gima and Norte. In France, the Group launched the first brand convergence tests in October. Six Champion supermarkets in Brittany switched to the Carrefour Market name, combining Champion's convenience with Carrefour's strength.
More floor area, more choice : In France, 107 new supermarkets opened, 17 were remodelled and 63 were expanded to the target size of 2,000 sq.m, totalling an additional 77,000 sq.m. Twenty-three percent of products were replenished across the year and the offering enhanced with 100 own-brand products promoting the trend towards organic, fair trade and eco-friendly products. Champion also came up with new ideas in its service offering, selling 20,000 mobile phone contracts in 2007 and providing personal services that make life easier for its 5.6 million loyalty card holders.