History of the company

Carrefour: hypermarket pioneer.

The origins of Carrefour date back to 1959 when the company was established in France by the Fournier and Defforey families. Carrefour opened its first supermarket in Annecy, then one successful shop grew into a chain from this first sales outlet. The shops were all located on thoroughfares, hence the name “Carrefour.” In other words, the name signifies that is convenient to shop there.

In 1963, Carrefour invented a new concept - the hypermarket. Based on an innovative idea, hypermarket determined as everything consumers needed could be found under one roof, displayed on self-service shelves allowed customers to compare products and prices. The first Carrefour hypermarket was opened in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois near Paris, with a sales area of 2,500 m square, twelve check out and 400 parking spaces.

In 1972, hypermarkets adopted the Continent retail brand and convenience stores operated under the Shopi brand.

In April 1976, Carrefour launched a private label Produits libres [2] line of fifty foodstuffs, including oil, biscuits (crackers and cookies), milk, and pasta, sold in unbranded white packages at substantially lower prices.

In the 1990s, the internationalization of the company started to increase and new store were opened all over the world. Carrefour opened its first hypermarket outside France in Belgium and the first outside Europe, in Brazil.

In 1995 it merged with Promodès, known as Continent, one of its major competitors in the French market.

In September 2009, Carrefour updated its famous logo.

Now the world’s leading hypermarket chain permanently changes its formats to suit its customers’ lifestyles.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-18