Carrefour China, facing an uncertain future, has recently reached a cooperation agreement with a state-owned facility in East China’s Anhui Province to help with its business upgrading.
According to a report, Carrefour China recorded that its net loss increased from Rmb 795 million (US$114 million) in 2020 to Rmb 3.337 billion (US$485 million) in 2021.
Since 2022, Carrefour China has seen many of its stores closed. In the first 3 quarters of 2022, the company closed 54 stores, leaving only 151 stores in operation. The number was 210 in 2019 when retail corp Suning.com acquired an 80% stake in Carrefour China from the French retailer group.
Carrefour China has actively sought transformation, such as the convenience store business in 2014, and online e-commerce business in 2015. After Suning.com became its controlling shareholder, it launched its first member store in 2021 and said that it would upgrade more than half of its domestic stores to member stores. However, the plan has progressed slowly, and only 2 member stores have been opened in Shanghai.
The next 12 months is set to be a challenging year for Carrefour, as recently there were rumours that Carrefour might close down, however it has denied the speculation, instead confirming that it is expanding its supply chain.
The pandemic has quickened the decline of the hypermarket format, which has been troubled by the rise of online shopping.
