Is Carrefour pulling out of China?

Yes,

On June 23, 2019, Suning.com announced that it would acquire an 80 percent stake in Carrefour China.

The deal means that Carrefour, the first retailer to introduce the "hypermarket" format to the Chinese mainland in the form of a joint venture, will soon withdraw from the Chinese market, which also marks Suning's formal entry into the traditional superstore sector.

Carrefour's exit from the Chinese market seems a bit hard to believe.

After all, Carrefour's influence in the Chinese market is relatively large, and its layout is reasonable. Even with a shrinking market and declining performance, Carrefour still has 210 hypermarkets and 24 convenience stores in China, covering 22 provinces and 51 large and medium-sized cities, as well as about 30 million members, placing it in the top 10 of China's top 100 fast-moving consumer goods chains in 2018.

Suning's 4.8 billion yuan acquisition of an 80 percent stake in Carrefour China means that Carrefour's exit from the Chinese market has basically been finalized.

Expanded

Carrefour's exit from China

Carrefour's exit from the Chinese market is due to its own reasons as well as external factors such as e-commerce competition.

On its own side, Carrefour has not adapted well to the changes in the retail market environment and has not faced up to the impact and influence of e-commerce on traditional business. In developed countries such as the United States, the impact of e-commerce on traditional business is relatively small, and traditional business is able to cope with the impact from new retailing, or at least will not easily fall into difficulties.

But in China, the impact of e-commerce on traditional business is obviously stronger, Carrefour did not pay enough attention to, and not fully prepared, so it is difficult to win the war with the e-commerce "food".

From the external environment, after the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the market consumption environment has changed greatly, and the lack of demand has appeared at many levels. Carrefour, as an international retail giant, was inevitably hit.

As a result, at the beginning of 2018, Carrefour Group made public its "Carrefour 2022 Plan", which aims to adjust its business model and management organization with a view to transforming food consumption.

Carrefour said at the time that 2,400 employees would be laid off at its French headquarters by way of voluntary departures as a way to save money, which is expected to reduce costs by 2 billion euros. On top of that, it will shift its business focus to e-commerce and organic products.

People's Daily Online - Carrefour China's 80% stake in the sale of the retreat is the best choice