Carrefour is trialling two new convenience store concepts, Carrefour Contact and Carrefour City, with a view to rolling the banners out across its entire network of French convenience stores.
The trials reflect Carrefour’s commitment to developing its formats to drive domestic growth, a spokesperson for the company told just-food today (5 December).
Two pilot Carrefour Contact stores have opened in Antrain (Ile et Vilaine) and Verson (Calvados) and two further pilot sites will open under the banner in the next few months.
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Meanwhile, four pilot stores under the Carrefour City banner will be opened in January, two in Paris and two in the south of France in Avignon and Nîmes, the spokesperson revealed.
Carrefour developed the convenience formats to meet the demands of different target consumers. Carrefour City is aimed at urban markets and Carrefour Contact stores will be located in smaller towns and villages, the spokesperson said.
“The analysis, via our databases, of the key factors in the success of our current convenience stores… revealed different expectations depending on the location of the store. We thus decided to trial two concepts answering these different expectations,” the spokesperson said.
“Located at the entry to, or in the centre of, small towns and villages, Carrefour Contact is a convenience store format offering a selection of everyday essential food items, with a broader range of fresh produce and a butcher’s counter. The store allows customers to shop for pleasure or for last-minute essentials.”
In contrast, Carrefour City stores will be “adapted to the rate of urban life” with extended opening hours – 8am to midnight – and “adapted food products like snacks”, the spokesperson said.
Carrefour was unable to provide detailed information on the size of each format, but did reveal that the Carrefour Contact opened in Antrain has 880 square metres of selling space while the Carrefour Contact in Verson is 720 square metres in size.
Carrefour Contact will carry 8,000 to 8,500 SKUs and Carrefour City will carry 5,000 to 5,500 SKUs, the spokesperson added.
Carrefour said that a decision has not yet been made regarding a further roll out of the new store concepts.
“The trials will last at least six months. It’s only after the trial period that we’ll draw up the balance sheet and decide on the continuation [of] the project,” the spokesperson said.
However, if the trials go well, Carrefour revealed that it would then look to convert its entire c-store franchise network of Shopi, Marché Plus, 8 à Huit stores to the new banners.
In June, Carrefour unveiled its “single brand” strategy designed to rejuvenate its lacklustre domestic business by simplifying its offering and strengthening its namesake brand. At that time, the company indicated that it was converting its French Champion supermarkets to the Carrefour banner.
