Author: Chen Jing
On June 23, Suning announced that the subsidiary Suning International acquired 80%of the equity of Carrefour China.Both Suning and Carrefour's parent companies have approved (2003 Huawei sold to Motorola $ 7.5 billion to Motorola, that is, Garvin, the new chairman of Motorola), has no problem at the company level.The Chinese government's antitrust approval is also required, and the problem is not big.
After the acquisition was completed, the controlling shareholder of Carrefour China became Suning, and Carrefour remained 20%of the shares and became a small shareholder.This basically represents Carrefour acknowledge that it is better to let Suning be controlled by yourself in China; it may be that the Chinese market has great potential. If Suning has a big hair, Carrefour also has some interests as a small shareholder.Overall, Carrefour's action should be regarded as defeating China.
In fact, Carrefour China lost 1.099 billion yuan in 2017 and lost 578 million in 2018.By the end of 2018, Carrefour's Chinese assets were worth 11.5 billion yuan, but their liabilities were as high as 13.8 billion. By net assets were negative.In 2018, revenue was 29.9 billion, a decrease of 7.7%compared to 32.4 billion in 2017.If it is only one or two years of loss or performance decline, multinational companies will rectify and replace management, and will not sell them directly.Companies with a revenue of 30 billion are sold at 6 billion, which is only one of the 17ths of the market value of Yonghui Supermarket, a listed company in A -share, which shows that the problem is very large, not a short -term problem.In 2012, Carrefour's China revenue high was 5.583 billion euros, and by the five years in 2017, it fell to 4.619 billion euros, a decrease of 17.3%.The situation has not been right for many years. This year, it should be patient and sold out.
In fact, it seems that the revenue declines is not too large, and a quarter compared to the high point.However, we must know that the Chinese economy is growing at a high -speed, and the growth rate of total retail sales of social commodities is still higher than the economic growth rate. For many years, it has basically 2 digits.If the growth rate of the supermarket group's revenue is not high, it will be considered a chance, let alone a little bit.Such a good market, doing this, must be competitive failures and system issues.If you do n’t sell it, you can only eat the old book and wait, so you can only sell the price of 6 billion.
But Carrefour cannot be said to withdraw from China. The store continues to open it, but just changed the owner.In 2014, Carrefour's withdrawal from India was really closed.Carrefour actually wanted to sell the store to the Indian local company Bathel Group, but it was not discussed, only the relevant store withdrew.After the Indian People's Party government came to power in 2014, it did not open the chain supermarket to foreign capital.There is no way for Carrefour to exit, and Wal -Mart can't do it in India.
Carrefour should be considered a crime of war in India.The Indian government does not allow foreign capital to open a large supermarket. It is afraid that the global supermarket giants will squeeze the large number of local small retail stores and affect social stability.The Indians themselves are also very divided, and some say that they can drive away foreign capital giants, and India can build their own business empire; some say that India is poor, and they need to take it slowly; some say that they still have to open and drive away foreign capital.
In fact, India has encountered the problem of the global supermarket giants in 2014, and China has encountered it before.Join the WTO and open the supermarket industry at the end of 2004. Various statements are similar to India. It is indeed a statement of fear of foreign capital giants.However, China has no restrictions to make Carrefour and Wal -Mart in a very open attitude and compete with local business super groups.It is not that China does not give a chance. Carrefour is really a fight. He defeated in China.Moreover, Carrefour is actually very large in China. In 1995, he opened the first store in Beijing and took the lead in building a hypermarket in many places across the country.Until 2009, Carrefour ranked first in China for a long time, but was finally defeated by counterattack.
Carrefour's retreat in China can be divided into two stages.In the first stage, the author conducted research in 2005.
It is believed that foreign supermarkets such as Carrefour have no operating advantages in China. It is not to move the so -called global market advanced operation model to China to rule the market. Foreign capital may be dissatisfied with soil and water.Later development shows that the author's prediction direction is right. The Chinese market is very special, the rise of local supermarkets, and a melee in the market.The main logic of this stage is that China's local manufacturing industry is relatively developed, it is a low price system, and foreign supermarkets do not have a cost advantage.Driving and shopping, the supermarket location is very important and cannot be managed uniformly.
The first stage is that foreign supermarket giants cannot take advantage of China, mainly for Indian -style concerns.At this stage, the Chinese business super industry heroes are joined, and the competition is fierce, but it still looks like a normal business logic.The consumption capacity of Chinese people has grown rapidly, and domestic and foreign supermarkets have room for development, and Carrefour Wal -Mart has a lot of development.
Carrefour China developed to 156 stores in 2009, distributed in 22 provinces in China.Compared with Ten thousand stores in Carrefour world, China only accounts for 2%of the number of stores, far less than that of the Chinese economy accounting for the world's proportion, indicating that the competition in the Chinese market is indeed fierce and profit is not high.But this is only a fragmentation of the market. It is a bit far away to say that losing money from China.
After the second stage, after 2009, e -commerce rose, and the entire China's supermarket formats have undergone tremendous changes.Carrefour is equivalent to being hit by dimensions, and the indicators have deteriorated sharply.From revenue, Carrefour has increased since 2009, but it is mainly reached by increasing the number of store opening. Single -store revenue has dropped from 235 million yuan in 2009 to about 200 million in 2013.Because there are some new stores, the decline in the revenue of a single store may also be caused by the small size of the new store, which is not clear.However, in 2015, the number of stores decreased by 3, but the revenue of single stores fell sharply to 158 million yuan.From the picture above, the number of stores is similar, and the total revenue has dropped sharply. This is a bad data that is determined.
No matter how much a store sells, the operating cost is small or good, and the revenue of a single store is very terrible.Carrefour China has deteriorated sharply in 2015, obviously to make some adjustments.From the financial report, Carrefour suddenly merged stores in Taiwan in 2016, and the number of stores has increased significantly.The meaning of this action is unknown, which may be the performance of the powder, and it does cause some troubles in the news.If some confused news can't figure out what happened in Carrefour's business, while saying that Carrefour does not work, it gives data that has greatly increased in revenue.The same is true in the picture above. The number of Carrefour stores suddenly increased in 2016, but the latter operations were not well closed for two years.
One of the substantial actions of Carrefour is to launch a shop called Easy Carrefour. Since 2014, 29 pilots were opened in Shanghai, and in 2017, he was trying to push to the country.It is not a big supermarket, but a 250-500 square meter, which is equivalent to three traditional convenience stores (or large convenience stores).There are 100,000 convenience stores in China. If the large convenience stores in Carrefour can succeed, maybe you can find a new road.The 2016 China Store Supermarket Shopping Shopper Trend Report mentioned that the penetration rate of convenience stores increased from 32%a year ago to 38%, and its development in China is optimistic.
However, after all, Carrefour is born in a big supermarket. The big supermarkets are not well opened. Can you open a convenience store like 7-11? Can you do it?Even if the area is larger, it is unlikely to find the secret of business.Easy Carrefour did not get up in the end, and even the pilot opened in Shanghai was closed a little.This small trick cannot have any effects. The entire industry has faced the blow of e -commerce, and Carrefour's pressure is even greater.
One important reason for Carrefour to enter China was in China. On April 7, 2008, a golden crystal incident that was transmitted by the Olympic flame in Paris, France.French organizers and police pampering political factors impacting the Olympic Games, and the disabled athlete Jin Jing tried to protect the torch and prevent thugs from snapping the torch.The harsh situation and the picture aroused the anger of the Chinese, protesting the people who ran to some Carrefour stores to express their anger.Sino -French relations enter the trough, which is the responsibility of the French.Although Carrefour is affected, there is nothing to say as a French company.The poor relationship between China and France also affects the attitude of Chinese local governments to Carrefour.Local governmentWhen the government needs to introduce a national chain supermarket brand, the distribution is critical.But there are many brands that can be selected. It is not a Carrefour.The French government despises China and ignores Sino -French relations, and its impact on Carrefour China is actually not small.Although France faced China ’s strength and the improvement of Sino -French relations, Carrefour has not been saved in the predicament.
It cannot be said that Carrefour is innocent. The French government and the company think of China to make money, and they have the obligation to maintain Sino -French relations.This also shows that the foreign government does not pay attention to the relationship with China and will not have no consequences.In 2012, at the CCTV 315 party, the three yellow chickens in the Carrefour store in Zhengzhou as the sale of Chai chicken, doubled the price;big.At that time, there was a rumor that Carrefour withdrew from China. Negative news appeared from time to time for many years, and the public relations failed.
Although there is a problem with the image of the corporate image, Carrefour's main difficulties in China have not responded to the impact of good e -commerce.As the top company in the industry, Carrefour China has performed very numb to online business and new retail business.Every time there is a new model in the industry, Carrefour is finally symbolic to make fun, without showing the sense of crisis.
In fact, the changes in the Chinese market are very obvious. Data around 2015 have been clearly questioned, and almost all hypermarkets have been greatly impacted by e -commerce.The reason is also very clear that Chinese consumers used to buy a bunch of things at one time in a large supermarket. This rough and fast stocking model is conducive to the development of large supermarkets such as Carrefour; a slightly chaotic shopping environment represents a strong popularity.Consumers don't care much.However, after the rise of online shopping, express delivery, and takeaway models, the stocking model is outdated, especially among young people; even if you do n’t buy online, you can go to the convenience store for two steps.supermarket.The physical stores of the large supermarket group need to optimize the environment, provide a better shopping experience, and do a good job of promotions. On the other hand, we must also develop online shopping business and follow consumers to run from offline to online.Some stores have also thought about tricks. Opening a fresh restaurant or entertainment in the store, it is indeed attractive to consumers and has an effect.
IT companies such as Ali, Tencent, and Jingdong actively develop new retail formats and integrate offline from online.These companies that call the wind and rain in the capital market have reprimanded the long -term acquisition of offline chain supermarkets, leading the development of the retail industry.The innovation of business format is endless, and the minds of Chinese consumers are induced by various thoughts.The entire industry has shown an excitement or morbid impulse. The retail logic in the past has long been beaten to be omnipotent, and the times are really different.
Carrefour is unable to keep up because of the problems of management and execution, or the Chinese market is too fast. It is extremely passive in response to the new business format and weak performance. Various operations have become industry jokes.In June 2015, the Carrefour Online Mall was only tried to operate in Shanghai, and it was too slow to advance later, and the number of cities increased slowly.The Carrefour Shopping APP experience is not good. It will be freely shipped at 129, and the delivery is slow.There is a problem with the physical store experience, and there is still a chance to change it. After the users compare several shopping apps, they feel uninstalled directly. They run to shopping with Tmall and Jingdong. The opportunity window is very small.Every year, Double 11, 618 and other shopping festivals, major e -commerce and chain companies are actively participating in the activities and linkage online and offline; Carrefour's activity is very small, it seems less to play, and it is incompatible with the overall atmosphere.For example, in the Double 11 in 2017, Carrefour engaged in discounts until 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, a solution without imagination.Compared with other merchant online and offline crazy traffic hype, there is some perfunctory, and it feels like it has not moved.
The competition in the Chinese retail market is cruel, and even if they are actively preparing to participate, they may not be able to survive.Carrefour's performance will be the first to be eliminated.This fierce competition has caused considerable pressure in itself.The 4.8 billion selling body of Carrefour should be a wise choice. If you spend more money in and fight, this combat effectiveness will only be drifting.Carrefour should admit it from the heart. The Chinese market is really impressive and won't play.
The weak combat effectiveness even affects the value of being acquired.It is not surprising that Carrefour defeats China.In fierce competition, there will be many losers, and international giants fail in the Chinese market.Carrefour has almost no resistance, and it is surprising that it is so thorough.The failure of Carrefour in China can only blame himself, and you can't talk about many lessons.
China's business format has rapidly developed to the forefront of the world. The multinational enterprises that have previously regarded Chinese people as giants have previously sank in the face of dimension reduction.Defeating multinational giants is not the goal of the Chinese industry, and there is infinite possibilities for future retail new worlds.
