Reflections on Carrefour to drastically cut jobs in Belgium

Google screenshot "Carrefour" keyword

2 of my most visited Carrefour supermarkets will be closed …

The plan calls for cutting 1672 jobs and closing 21 stores in Belgium by end-June, Carrefour Belgium said in a statement on Tuesday. (yes, this is the first sentence on a Google search on Carrefour and I’m so lazy I just copy/pasted it, and that’s why it’s in italics). But the point is, I rarely visit a Carrefour but have 2 of them very close to my place. However, Carrefour has turned out to be my lifesaver: it’s open until 20h! Both of those Carrefour supermarkets are on the closing list. I guess I’ll never see a Carrefour from the inside again.

… my friend in India however will soon meet Mr Carrefour.

Njummie! All that good stuff he’ll soon enjoy!

On that same google page result I noticed the statement of carrefour going into India. I am almost tired of writing, so I quickly want to provide the reader some insights on a possible “why” of this decision.

AFP Carrefour press release

Marketing strategy?

Facts & Figures from Belgium: 10 million inhabitants struggling to keep their wealth as high as in the past, a government that has almost the highest debt rate in the world, etc.

Facts & Figures from India: estimated population 2010 1,177,424,000, increasing wealth, etc.

Marketing strategy background: the economic core of the world economy is moving east, it’s over there that money will be made.

Marketing strategy: “Carrefour will develop its activities in India with the start of cash-and-carry activities in 2010,” the company said in a statement emailed to AFP.