Carrefour

Frances product relies on the key strengths of supplier contacts and node knowledge when developing and implementing marketing strategy. Carrefour has 108 billion in per year turnover and operates 1,530 hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount stores and convenience stores in 33 countries. Even though retailing is an intensely competitive industry, Carrefours marketers have used these global strengths to great advantage when preparing marketing plans to address various opportunities and threats in Europe, Latin the States and Asia.For example, a few months after Carrefour moved its global sourcing position to Thailand, executives became aware that local farmers were producing a surplus of fruits such as durian and mangosteens. In the past, these fruits had sold well in the 34 Thai Carrefour stores as well as in the chains outlets in Taiwan, China and Indonesia. Identifying this as a marketing opportunity, Carrefours marketing director in Thailand arranged to debase hundreds of ad ditional tonnes of local fruits and created a plan to encourage he European stores to stock the fruits as a taste of Thailand at an attractive price.Depending on the country, as much as 90-95 per cent of merchandise stocked in Carrefour stores is purchased from local suppliers. The purpose is to make the most of the opportunity by establishing mutually beneficial connections with local suppliers for the long term. When Carrefours marketers analyze the internal environment, they adjudicate the results of previous marketing plans across the entire chain and in case-by-case stores. They have grouped the customer base of 14 illion households worldwide into 60,000 customer segments for more relevant marketing attention.With deep analysis, they can target more precisely and measure the return on investment for each programme in the marketing plan. Carrefour also acts quickly when analyses point to unmatched challenges or opportunities. For example, Just a few months after opening hyp ermarkets in Moscow and Krasnodar, the retailer decided to stop expansion in Russia and dole out the new stores because difficult economic circumstances had reduced short-term harvest-tide opportunities.