Carrefour speeds up expansion in China

Although encountering consumer confidence crisis, Carrefour still keeps rapidly expanding.

China market. The supermarket, opened on June 6 near Zhongshan Park, will be the retailer's 10th store in Shanghai and the the 78th in China.

After Carrefour has withdrawn from South Korea to resist the intended raid by South Korean retailer Shinsegae, it decided to focus its efforts and investments on China. Carrefour intends to open at least 20 new stores throughout the country in 2006.

When asked about the report on the poor quality of the Carrefour goods, Ren Ting, manager of Carrefour Zhongshan Park store said that is a reminder of the importantce of paying more attention to the quality of commodity. He insisted Carrefour implemented strict quality control on purchasing, delivery and management.

There is someone who is in charge of the quality of goods and report directly to the manager. Especially in the fresh meat counters, the workers keep checking, added Ren.

Carrefour accounts for 4.7 percent of market in 15 major cities and the infiltrate rate exceeds 46.2 percent, which means nearly half households in China has been to Carrefour within a year, according to CTR.

In 2005, Carrefour's retailing income totaled 17,436 million yuan, ranking the ninth among domestic chain retailers and still keeping the first among the foreign-invested retailers on China market.

By People's Daily Online