The Carrefour group, like its main competitors, is doing everything it can to make the most of the digital transformation in order to offer new products and services. We will therefore follow closely the innovations and new online services offered by the group.
In the same way and because of very strong competition on market prices, the development by the group of private label products is an element likely to boost sales in the face of increasingly low purchasing power.
We will also be closely monitoring the group's strategy of developing local stores throughout the country and its deployment in major cities.
At the same time, we will also keep an eye on the group's international expansion strategy with its establishment in new markets such as emerging markets.
The economic statistics concerning the Euro zone are also elements to be taken into consideration with regard to the impact they have on consumption and therefore on the sales of these groups. In particular, the European growth rate will be monitored.
Finally, we will of course closely follow the main competitors of this company.
The Carrefour group is now one of the leaders in mass retailing and has merged with the French group Promoès, although it has rapidly expanded across Europe. More than that, it is currently the second largest retailer in the world, just after the American giant WalMart.
This group launched the first hypermarkets in 1963, but it also owns a large number of smaller commercial structures such as supermarkets or certain superettes.
The group has more than 12,300 stores worldwide, including 1,376 hypermarkets under the Carrefour and Atacadao banners, 3,243 supermarkets under the Carrefour Bairro, Carrefour Market and Supeco banners, 7,327 convenience stores under the Carrefour City, Carrefour Express, Carrefour Contact, Carrefour Montagne, Carrefour Bio, 8 à Huit and Proxi banners, 354 cash-and-carry stores, including Promocash, Docks Market and Grossiper, as well as a number of e-commerce sites, such as Carrefour.com.es, Carrefour.pl, Carrefour.ro, Carrefour.com.cn and Carrefour.com.tw.fr, Carrefour.es, Carrefour.eu, Carrefour.pl, Carrefour.ro, Carrefour.com.cn and Carrefour.com.tw.
Carrefour's annual turnover is over 76 billion euros. France accounts for 46.9% of this figure, the rest of Europe for 27.7%, Latin America for 18.2% and Asia for 7.2%.
Turnover increased significantly in 1991 following the acquisition of Montlaur and Euromarché, in 1999 with the acquisition of Comptoirs Modernes, in 2000 with the merger with Promedès and in 2001 with the acquisition of the Belgian and Italian activities.
Carrefour is part of the French national stock market index CAC 40.
Photo credits: ©ricochet64/123RF.COM
If the Carrefour group is currently one of the most important European groups in the retail sector, it is not the only one to covet the shares of this market. Indeed, Carrefour has to face some important competitors of which here are the main ones:
the Tesco group is a British retail group also present in Eastern Europe, Ireland and Asia. It is one of the largest groups in this sector in the United Kingdom with over 3,780 stores. Of course, the group also has many international activities.
The Casino group also known as Casino Guichard-Perrachon is a French competitor of Carrefour also specializing in mass distribution. It was created in 1898 and is a historical actor of the great distribution in this country. But Casino also developed internationally by acquiring in particular GPA and Grupo Exito in 1999 which are major companies of this sector in Colombia and in Brazil.
This other group is German and is also specialized in distribution. It owns several popular wholesale or cash & carry brands for professionals and is present in many countries around the world with the Metro Cash & Carry and Makro brands.
This other German group is a chain of hard-discount supermarkets formerly based in Germany. It is also a family business that exists since 1913 and was created in a popular district of Essen. This simple store was then developed after the Second World War to become the international group that it is today.
Another German company in direct competition with Carrefour. This group is indeed a company of great distribution which exists since many years and which counts among the most important of this sector today. Eedeka Gruppe is the head of a network of 12,000 sales outlets.
Finally, there is also competition from Delhaize Group, a Belgian retail group operating in 11 countries. The bulk of its activity concerns the operation of supermarkets in North America, Europe and South East Asia. The group is listed on Euronext Belgium and is part of the Belgian stock exchange index BEL20.
The Carrefour group is also a partner of some sporting events like the Tour de France of which it is one of the official sponsors but also knew how to associate with big companies in common projects that it is important to know to carry out your analyses of this stock exchange.
This is the case, for example, of a partnership with Engie, set up in 2015 with the aim of putting into service the first non-polluting bio-methane transport trucks.
Carrefour spun off its Dia stores worldwide in 2011, but eventually bought the group's banners in France in 2015. So you could say that these two companies are still partners, at least as far as the French market is concerned.
Finally, Carrefour is a partner of Mastercard for one of its financing services, the PASS card. This partnership was set up in 2009 by its Bancassurance department. It was recently renewed and should therefore continue for many years to come.
In 2018, Carrefour signed a partnership with Darty and opened franchise-managed Darty stores in its hypermarkets.
In 2019, it is with the American giant Google that Carrefour has signed a strategic partnership. This partnership will allow Carrefour to market its online offer on the new Google Shopping interface as well as vocally on devices integrating the Google Assistant.
Firstly, it is important to remember that the Carrefour group's positioning in Europe and in the world is one of the positive points. Indeed, the Carrefour group is currently the leader in food distribution in Europe and ranks second internationally for this sector of activity.
The distribution of the Carrefour group's activities around the world is also a reassuring point. Indeed, while the group still generates the majority of its sales in France, with 47%, it also has a strong presence in other European countries such as Belgium, Spain and Italy, where it generates more than 26% of its sales. Next come countries in other regions of the world, particularly in Latin America with the Brazilian market, which generates 19% of the company's sales, and Asia with the Chinese and Taiwanese markets.
The Carrefour group has succeeded in implementing a low price strategy throughout the year for several years. It has also been keen to renovate more than 70% of its French hypermarkets in just a few years. In Brazil, 24% of the company's hypermarkets have been renovated.
As far as the French market alone is concerned, which generates most of Carrefour's sales, the group has also gained new market shares, notably thanks to its Cora brand, which currently holds more than 28.1% of these shares, ahead of the Leclerc group, its main rival, which only holds 21%. At the same time, the company's productivity has shown a steady increase in recent years, a sign that the group is in good economic health.
Investors are also reassured by the approach of the Carrefour group's management, which has recently implemented a strategy based on three main axes, namely greater decentralisation, which leaves more freedom and power to store managers, a refocusing of investment activities on more targeted areas and fewer different countries, and a stronger valuation of real estate, in particular thanks to the 48% stake that the group holds in the subsidiary Carmila.
Finally, since the acquisition of the online sales site Rue du Commerce, the Carrefour group has succeeded in establishing itself in the e-commerce sector and thus diversifying its sales activities.
Firstly, it should be noted that the Carrefour share is highly exposed to the vagaries of certain other markets, including the currency market, with significant sensitivity to changes in the exchange rate of the euro with the Brazilian real and the Chinese yuan. The recent fall in crude oil prices is also a brake on its growth.
On the French market, although Carrefour has recently managed to regain some market share, the group still suffers from a few shortcomings. For example, the majority of its sales are made in the Paris region, which means that it is not developing enough in the provinces. In addition, the group is also lagging behind the competition in terms of drive-through services or in-store withdrawals after online orders. In this very specific sector, Carrefour currently only has a 7% market share, while its competitor Leclerc has 46%.
In the rest of the world, Carrefour has also shown a clear decline in sales on the Chinese market. This phenomenon can be explained in particular by the various restructurings of the company in this country, but also by the arrival of a very dangerous competitor, namely Alibaba, which is currently the leader in Chinese e-commerce. Because of these two factors, it is the group's positioning in Asia that is being questioned.
Finally, we can also note that some investors find the Carrefour share still too expensive to buy while other stocks of American or British competitors offer more advantageous and strategically attractive prices.
Here you can see that the Carrefour group has various strengths and weaknesses. They must be monitored for the success of your strategies.
If we look at the technical analysis of the Carrefour share price, which is one of the essential analyses to understand how this stock is behaving and to set up effective trading strategies on it, we can notably take note of its most important high and low levels. As far as the share price since the beginning of 2020 is concerned, we note that the highest price was reached at €16.89 and the lowest price was €12.32.
The share of the French group Carrefour is of course quoted on the Euronext Paris market in France. More precisely, this quotation is done on the compartment A of this market, i.e. the compartment gathering the biggest companies of the country. Moreover and thanks to its important market capitalization, Carrefour is also part of the national stock exchange index of reference CAC 40.
Carrefour's stock could very well fall in the coming months or years. To anticipate such a loss of points, you should keep a close eye on all the major news of this stock with the group's financial results, its strategic plans or even the news of the competition. You should also follow the stock's charts with interest.
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