Las empresas del - Revista F&H

M ERCADOS | MARKETS
By Rafael I. Losilla
Two years ago Carrefour
started to have a problem in
its strategy of retailers. The 212
supermarkets that there are in
France lost sales and customers
but their smaller stores kept
stable. It was not badly only
of Carrefour, since the French
supermarkets have been losing
share of market in general and
specially fruits and vegetables.
A report made by TNS Secodip
in 2006 showed that 38
per cent of the French consumers
appreciated the closer
supermarkets. The Express supermarkets
of Carrefour have
started but without a specific
bet on them.
At the present day Express
supermarkets of Carrefour
keep it in the French market
with stores between 100-250
square meters in urban zones
as rural ones with more than
3,500 products of which 120
are fresh fruits and vegetables
and with an increasing number
of openings. Since the beginning
of the year to last week
of January it has been opened
three new stores. In addition
Carrefour has launched the
Carrefour City Coffee, a proposal
for lunch with more than
700 courses “ready to eat” in
stores of 100-150 square meters
opened seven days a week
and with longer business
hours.
The French strategy has
been also applied in Spain
with the Carrefour Market,
small stores where stands of
fruits and vegetables are at the
26 F&H Frutas y Hortalizas
Fruits and salads are
growing with ‘Express’
format
The launching of the “Express” formats in the important retailers European
is linked to the strengthening of fruits and vegetables. The fruits are
usually situated at the entrance of the “Express” supermarkets and with
a big range of products, within a format that increases in Europe.
entrance of the stores and with
a high range of products.
The United Kingdom
The development of the Express/convenience
format is
not only a subject of the French
groups. The British company,
Tesco, has eight per cent
of its stores in this way and
expects to continue developing
it. In fact, it was one of the
supermarkets that it developed
to stop the loss of customer
because of the introducing of
the German discounts.
At the present day the Tesco
Express format is not characterized
by its cheap prices, since
a recent study shows that the
recommended retail prices of
this kind of stores are more
expensive than the traditional
Tesco stores.
The development of Tesco
towards the Express is not only
a subject of the United
Kingdom. This chain has 336
stores in Poland and they already
work in adapting this
kind of stores to smaller formats
to gain competitiveness
against Biedronka, the Polish
leader with 1,500 stores of 300
square meters.
A study made by the CBI
Market Survey shows that the
success of the Biedronka stores
responds “to the small format
of store and with the right products
per family” This way it
is able to be competitive in
prices and to have a flow of
two million consumers daily.
By the way in fruits and vegetables
it has 25 products of
average.
A common characteristic of
the Express format or convenience
is the location of the
fresh products like the key of
the development of this kind
of stores. The stands of fruits
and vegetables are gaining its
place in this type of store that
gathers the more habitual
needs and “commodity” products
for the consumer.
Not only the great European
groups are working in
the Express format. Migros has
been developing the small format
of store for two years and
has 79 Migrol-Shop stores and
136 Migrolingo stores in Switzerland.