“To our friends and customers, Carrefour is only considered by its name as a big chain-supermarket. However, to us, Carrefour is far from what it is called. ” Jean-Luc Chereau, the first president of Carrefour China Ltd. once said that since Carrefour’s establishment in 1959 it has been creating a legend not only in France but also all over the business field involving 30 countries and regions of the world.”

In Shanghai, Carrefour continues its meaningful legend.

10 years ago, under the sky of shanghai city, there was a commercial potential held in store.

At the end of 1995, when Carrefour set its feet on the earth of shanghai, the whole city was just in the important historical stage of city supermarkets’ development, i.e, the government of Shanghai pushed strongly the expanding of chain-supermarkets and simultaneously enlarging the scope of opening up to the world. Having the aid of such a driving power, Carrefour opened its first store on Queyang Road, which provided convenience to the surrounding citizenry, and brought forth the fresh idea of worldwide supermarket as well. Although Queyang Store does not occupy much space, it still realizes a splendid achievement. In 1999, Queyang store’s annual rate of customers flowing was 5.8 million, which broke up Carrefour’s historical universal record. This gave rise to foreign companions’ big surprise and they all searched for chance to come to Shanghai, particularly to Queyang Store, and view with their own eyes how such a miracle happened. From the first Chinese director who was accredited from overseas area, to the present one who was selected from shanghai local stuff, there are in all 9 directors in shanghai who come from different regions, such as France, Taiwai, Wuxi and Shanghai. Luo Dingzhong, the general manager of shanghai regional Carrefours, came from taiwai. However, he has specific love knot to shanghai and are willing to indulge himself here forever. Once in a special interview he said that, “when I came to shanghai in 1993, bicycles and cars crowded all streets and roads, and rudely interrupted each other; the traffic system in this city was somewhat in a mass. If one took a taxi from wusong road to the Bund, it would have at least cost him or her one hour and 20 minutes…Nevertheless, I saw the commercial potential here.”

In the history of China, shanghai was always considered as the largest city for trading. In addition, it has always been in seized of various advantageous investment elements, so the powerful commercial potential here is no need to doubt. In Mr. Luo’s words, if you join in the local atmosphere with a placid attitude and operate your business with a lifelike mood, the probability for you to achieve success would be much visible.

The new conception of retailing management----“Happy shopping in Carrefour!”

Carrefour offers our customers low-priced but high quality commodities of various categories, outstanding services and comfortable shopping atmosphere. Carrefour supermarkets put into practice the sets of services such as self-help shopping, free-of-charge parking, lowest prices, high rate shopping and refunding service if customers are not satisfying. Early in 1999, we had spread the managing conception of “Customer Orientied”, and took the leading role in launching the service of “unconditionally and freely returning merchandise in 15 days”, which received our craft fellows’ agreeable response. We stock our merchandises from local regions and insure offering our customers fresh and high quality foods. The essence of our development and services is to satisfy and cater to the needs of our customers in a better way, let them gain benefits as much as possible, and improve their life quality. Meanwhile, we are trying all the ways to be the best shopping place in the local region. In Carrefour, we do our endeavor to divide the same categorical merchandises into different classes so as to meet the diversified needs of different customers. This inevitably results in the complication of our stocking, sorting and shelving. However, what we care much more is the number of customers we possess. The satisfaction of our customers is our supreme gratification. “Happy Shopping in Carrefour”, this managing conception receives our customers’ wild-ranging praises and favors. In the mean time, with modernized marketing managing conception, and rationalized construction of the plan of attracting business counterparts, we offer our customers in a finite space a comprehensive set of services by integrating shopping, amusement, eating and drinking services, which pave the way to infinite commercial opportunities for the surrounding places.

Insuring the safety of foods and considering it as our major obligation

As the leading role in this professional field, we not only enjoy the pride of being superior to others in the marketing competition, but also burden responsibilities as much as possible in the way of pursuing excellence. 

In shanghai, Carrefour is the first supermarket which practices “no dishcloth” management in the department of fresh and raw foods. Although it increases the cost, it effectively reduces the rate of being infected by bacteria, and reinforces the safety of our foods. Our paying bring about our customers relaxation, so we are still endeavoring ourselves to do such a thing…

Because foods occupies at least 60% of the total amount of Carrefour’s merchandises, this calls for applying updating methods in controlling each step of the whole process from the original production to the eventual selling out.

Over the past years, Carrefour has always been carrying out, practicing and enhancing plans to insure the safety and quality of foods. We consult and discuss with our food providers the development of healthy and safe foods, and propose a set of approaches and methods to ameliorate our plans. In shanghai, Carrefour also cooperate with the local government and those related departments to map out the standardized system of safety foods by providing our experiences in and abroad, as well as necessary supports. In addition, we attach importance to the exploration of organic foods. Carrefour works closely with the local farmers and methodically brings the green foods into stocking step by step. In this process, we also supervise and urge our foods providers to improve their production by being in accord with our systematic standards about the quality of green foods, and obtain the license. 

On November, 2003, Carrefour signs contract with “Shanghai Meat foods Ltd. of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce”, which is the first enterprise in shanghai obtaining license of “No harms Agricultural Products”. Its sub-organization, “Shanghai Fengxian Breeding Filed” has the duty to offer pork products to all Carrefour’s supermarkets in shanghai, and those products should be qualified by “Quality System”. This is also the first sort of pork products under the brand name of “Quality System” in China. The brand of “Quality System” is one of the good representatives of Carrefour’s products, and it shows Carrefour’s promises to customers in the aspect of product quality. Such kind of products have been examined and verified strictly by Carrefour Group and they are also under the control of related experts who are invited by Carrefour, so their qualities are surely reliable. We have all the recursive data of every producing and processing step, and our products do not pollute environment. In contrast, they are always in harmony with the strategy of contiuable development. With all these aspects, our products gain customers’ agreeable comments and preference.   

Paying much attention to enhancing the ability of management

In 2000, Carrefour established in Shanghai the first Asian staffs training center. It offers the local staffs specialized training about qualities and skills, and realizes high-level managers’ localization through interior promotion. At present, Carrefour provides 3,800 job chances for shanghai staffs. These skillful and proficient staffs who were experienced systematic training are always the eminent ones either in the same industry filed or in others’. In 2003, only to the staffs in shanghai, they had received all about 56,700 hours training in various kinds of lectures. Mentionably, those “Carrefour elites”----the directors in charge of the whole store, who were graduated from “Carrefour Chinese Training Center”, have been assigned to the position of store directors in different cities of China. Now, Store directors who are from China, occupy 35% of the total amount of people on such positions; and those who are sent from shanghai occupy 20% of the Chinese ones.

Besides, another new training plan in shanghai region--- “ETP---Carrefour managers’ Training Project” has been launched since the middle of May this year. This training project which is aimed at cultivating senior managers of professional retailing enterprises will go on for 18 weeks. Those who have finished such a training project will directly be appointed as the middle-level managers and begin their business career as Carrefour’s contemporary operators. This project is also willing to recruit these outstanding graduated students, gives chances to them to know international retailing industry, and provides a platform for those students to enter such a field.

Laying stress on brand images and actively exploring own brands

In May, 2004, in several regions including shanghai, Carrefour launched the sort of products with our own brands, and we are trying to be the model of protecting customers’ health and environment in the world-wide economic activities. We intensify the contact with our products providers. Based on the national unified quantum of stocking, we create for our providers the prerequisites of speeding up the producing rate, help them gain highest profits with lowest cost. In the meantime, we offer them relevant technological supports so as to insure the quality of merchandises, and bring much more boons to our customers. The exploration of products of our own brands not only pushes forward the development of related industries, but also promotes continuable, stable and circular development of economy. We adopt the linear way to manage the exploiture, production and commercialization of our products, keep watch on and supervise strictly the quality of products. In this way, our producing rate has been effectively elevated. Owing to the reduction of cost and that of marketing expenditure in the commercial process, the price of Carrefour’s merchandises with our own brands is usually 20% cheaper than that of other brands ones.  Striving for benefiting our customers, creating profits for our providers and increasing revenue for our government are the principles on which we continuously insist.

Nowadays, Carrefour has explored many own brands for more that 400 kind of merchandises including foods, general commodities and textiles, and the number and categories of merchandises are still growing. Moreover, the set of “stick” products with noticeable signals is one sort of representative products which belongs to Carrefour ourselves. We settle down our object as maintaining high quality but lowest price among the same products in market, and satisfy different social classes with different shopping demands.

Blending harmoniously into the society and playing an active role in commonweal undertaking

“Our secrets of success are courage and insight, passion, as well as actively blending into the local society.” The global president of Carrefour Group, Mr. Daniel Bernard once said in the way above in an interview.

Standing in front of Carrefour Wuning Store, few people would recall those shabby workshops of China’s No.6 Cotton Factory. Instead, what fulfill your eyes is a beautiful, vivid and comfortable scene with sunshines, blue sky, green sea, beach and palm trees…If one has accustomed to the gray sky and live too long in the stifling and narrow area along Suzhou River, he or she will become speakless at the very moment being up against such a wonderful and pleasing scene. Just several days ago, there was a letter sending to the Commercial Department of shanghai city, which was written by an ordinary citizen. He was a retired worker living in the area surrounding Carrefour’s Wuning store. He said he had never seen green sea before, but now he could see it every day. He appreciated Carrefour for creating such a wonderful shopping atmosphere.

To be an eligible citizen is our obligation. In the meantime, this obligation will be helpful in the realization of our view of values----sharing with others. Carrefour’s development cannot be part away from social supports, so we persist reciprocating to the society and take it as the way of realizing our view of values. With the conception of integrating with community culture, although the scene pictures outside Wuning Store which costs 5500,000 RMB has to be changed every two or three years, we still consider it worthy because it coincident very well with the proposition of blue sky, clear water and beautifully transfiguration of shanghai. As to that picture created by Photographing Association, it was voted and selected by shanghai citizenry from numerous works publicized by Carrefour.

As a matter of fact, no matter in which countries and cities “Carrefour” is, it makes great efforts to be a good and eligible citizen by harmoniously blending itself with the local culture and people. The example as we all know are: “Emergency Aid System for Carrefour’s Customers” in shanghai; “Creating Beautiful World with Love ”----philanthropic activity held in the eastern region of China, selling children’s painting calendar under the subject of protecting environment, providing supports from Carrefour’s stores all over China to Beijing for 2008 Olympic Game Bid; patronizing “The Running Activity of Both Sides of the Channel to Support Beijing 2008 Olympic Bid”; holding “Carrefour’s Two days and Three Nights World-cup Journey Activity” in the time of Carrefour’s seventh anniversary ceremony; donating with diversified forms for social welfare organizations; adapting pandas; using relatively earlier special shopping bags for environmental protection; frequently taking part in various training and discussing activities held by Chinese government with the role of major speaker; and with the invitation of local government, under the role of consultant, proposing suggestions and advices for the development of this city…In July, 2002, the global president of Carrefour, Mr. Daniel Bernard, held in Paris a club in the name of “French Enterprises 2010 shanghai EXPO Biding Club”, which played a very significant role in Beijing’s successful bid, and it will continuously provide support to the consummation of Shanghai EXPO.

In July, 2004 in shanghai, in the period of Sino-France cultural year, Carrefour held in Gubei Store a splendid living performance, which presented in front of French people the merits and characteristics of China’s traditional culture. Later, Carrefour’s global president Mr. Daniel Bernard and one of the central government leaders---Li Changchun, appeared together on the large screen, and sent their best wishes to all the people in shanghai and on the site. As the communicating ambassador between Chinese and French cultures, Carrefour showed one more time our elegant demeanor.

Taking general city constructive program into consideration, establishing our objectives of development

In shanghai, Carrefour and our cooperative partner-----Shanghai Lianhua Supermarkets Ltd. Company, establish with each other a new company, “Shanghai Lianjia Supermarkets Ltd. company”, and gradually built up another seven chain-stores. Over the past 9 years, the selling achievement of these stores and the taxes we have turned in keep growing year by year with the total amount nearly 480,000,000 RMB. Our customers are also in the increasing tendency. In 2003, the number of shanghai Carrefour’s customers reaches 9,600,000 RMB.