Following the release of Carrefour’s figures for the 13 weeks ending 31st March 2023; Joe Dawson, retail analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view: “Carrefour has started its FY2023 on good footing, reporting strong Q1 results, with year-on-year growth in sales that highlight the success of its competitive value offering. The group recorded like-for-like (l-f-ls) sales growth of 12.3%, up from 3.4% in Q1 FY2022, bringing sales for Q1 to €22.1bn. This was driven by an especially strong performance in Latin America, where l-f-ls were up 26.0%. However, high food inflation continues to impact consumers in all of its key markets and pressure on consumer wallets from a higher cost of living has led to more consumers trading down from other mid-market players as well as its customers swapping to its private label products to save money. As such, own brand ranges were particularly popular at Carrefour in Q1, accounting for 35% of sales. With high inflation persisting into Q2 in most of Carrefour’s key markets, the retailer is wise to remain focused on expanding the availability of its private label ranges as consumers’ purchasing power will remain limited throughout 2023.
“Within France, Carrefour’s largest region, l-f-l sales were up 7.1% for Q1 FY2023, with l-f-l food sales having increased by 8.3%, balancing out the decline in non-food sales of 3.4%. A focus on healthy and affordable food options has been the key to Carrefour’s strategy in the region. In March 2023, in response to customer feedback, the retailer launched an ‘essential and nutrition’ range in France, comprised of 200 products at an average price of two euros. This type of promotion should be introduced in other markets and will help the grocer ensure consumer loyalty as well as improve the public perception of the group.
“Carrefour’s operations in Latin America remain at the epicentre of its growth outside of Europe. Its results in this region were driven by increased volumes and impressive performances from both Carrefour Retail and its Atacadão discount retailer in Brazil. Brazil is especially important for the retail group, as it aims to fully integrate Grupo BIG into its portfolio. Carrefour expects that it will complete the conversion of 42 remaining stores in Q2 FY2023. Bringing the hard discounter under its banners will unify its global branding and help to improve the value perception of the group in Latin America.”
