Carrefour

Carrefour S.A. is a French multinational corporation specialized in retail.

History

The first Carrefour shop (not a hypermarket) opened in 1960, within suburban Annecy, near a crossroads. The group was created in 1958 by Marcel Fournier, Denis Defforey and Jacques Defforey, who attended and were influenced by several seminars in the United States led by "the Pope of retail" Bernardo Trujillo.

The Carrefour group was the first in Europe to open a hypermarket, a large supermarket, and a department store under the same roof. They opened their first hypermarket on 15 June 1963 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris.

In April 1976, Carrefour launched a private label Produits libres (free products – libre meaning free in the sense of liberty as opposed to gratis) line of fifty foodstuffs, including oil, biscuits (crackers and cookies), milk, and pasta, sold in unbranded white packages at substantially lower prices.

In 1999, it merged with Promodès, better known through its retail banners Continent (hypermarkets) or Champion (supermarkets), one of its major competitors in the French market.

In September 2009, Carrefour updated its logo.

In May 2011, Carrefour reviewed its business situation under conditions of stagnant growth and increasing competition in France from rivals including Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, and decided to invest €1.5 billion ($50000.1 billion) to introduce the supermarket concept of Carrefour Planet in Western Europe.

In April 2015, Brazilian businessman Abílio Diniz revealed he was in talks to raise his 5.07 percent stake in Carrefour and has the support of shareholders to take a board seat.

On 9 June 2017, the board of directors chose Alexandre Bompard as the new chairman and chief executive officer of Carrefour with effect as of 18 July 2017.

In 2017, Carrefour began working with a small French start-up, Expliceat, on a trial basis. Expliceat built a commercial mill that is designed to crumb down leftover bread. It rents the mill to commercial bakeries and then uses the crumb to bake cookies, muffins and pancakes.

In January 2018, Alexandre Bompard announced a strategic plan for the company, entitled "Carrefour 2022", that seeks to make Carrefour the "leader of the food transition for all". The plan includes measures for better food and package sustainability, limitation of food waste, development of organic products, e-commerce partnerships, and two billion euros in annual investments from 2018 as well as organisational and cost reduction measures.

In the exceptional context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carrefour is the first retailer to join initiative to share its additional incomes related to COVID-19 to support people who are suffering from the current situation. According to co-founder Nicolas Chabanne, 100,000 euros have been paid out, then 50,000 euros each week until 11 May.

Carrefour's Board of Directors has decided to reduce by 50% the dividend proposed for 2019. The dividend is now €0.23 per share (versus €0.46 per share).

Until the end of the year, Alexandre Bompard and all the members of Carrefour Group's board of directors have decided to waive 25% of their director's fees. These savings will be used to finance solidarity actions for the company's employees, both in France and abroad.

Alexandre Bompard, has decided to waive 25% of his fixed salary for a period of two months. To express his gratitude to his personnel in the field, he has decided to offer an exceptional bonus of €1,000 net to 85,000 employees in France.