Georges Plassat is reviving the world’s second-biggest retailer
Not long ago Carrefour was in such trouble that a break-up seemed likely. It was
rapidly losing market share in France, its biggest market, to Leclerc. The
“hypermarket” model that it invented in the 1960s is considered to be well past
its sell-by date. With more single and older customers, convenient city-centre
supermarkets are becoming more popular, rather than vast stores on the edge of
town selling everything from charcuterie to televisions. And retailing
specialists in consumer electronics and fashion have eaten into Carrefour’s
non-food business. Under Carrefour’s former chief executive, Lars Olofsson, a
Swede, the firm issued five profit warnings in a year, more than any other big
French company has ever made.
