Just read a newspaper article that said Carrefour is planning to leave the Belgian market. Then at the end of the story it said that ING-analysts expect that stores in Argentina, Turkey, Italy, Poland and Taiwan would be axed first.
So, bye, bye bread, chocolate, cheese and Belgian beer … and the other stuff of course that’s only available at Carrefour.
The new CEO, Georges Plassat was expected to start serious restructuring plans.
That doesn’t make much sense. Carrefour seems to do pretty well in Taiwan, it vanquished Tesco years ago.
Seemingly you’re right … but nothing makes much sense until you see their figures worldwide and they have to make choices. Taiwan is a small market and not enough space to expand and to much competition. It’s easier to sell off to your competitors and invest that money in better markets.
And who would take its place? Not Aimai, nor Wellcome nor any of the other players. RT Mart? Please say no. 
Not that I want to see Carrefour go, but I actually have a hard time thinking of anything that is only available there now.
It’s only rumors from analysts … and I hope it will stay rumors
Not that I want to see Carrefour go, but I actually have a hard time thinking of anything that is only available there now.[/quote]
Their own house brand, reasonable priced and good quality …
Why would anyone buy bread at Carrefour?
It’s beyond horrid.
[quote=“TheGingerMan”]Why would anyone buy bread at Carrefour?
It’s beyond horrid.[/quote]
I do, it’s the next best thing I can get in Sanxia … except from baking my own but right now I’m not doing that.
And as said, it’s a quality/price matter and the western style breads are pretty ok … if you want to pay 400NT$ at 7-11 for a so called ‘hand made’ bread, be my guest. Or buy the frozen stuff from Mr. Paul …
I thought they did a swap: Carrefour got out of Thailand, Tesco out of here.
I wouldn’t really miss it - apart from the odd bargain on unusual bags of pasta. Must only go there 6/7 times a year now.
Of course RT can. They do use a similar shopper centric formula as Carrefour and they already import (limited) French “Auchan” products - similar to the much too expensive private label range “Carrefour”. In fact, they have progressed more than CF has in the last 3 years. (yes- they were lagging behind by far)
The only thing they have to do - if they want to internationalize themselves and catching CF premium franchise - is having a truly “imported products” section.
Though, they do are more expensive than Carrefour (having compared a similar shopper basket for business reasons) at an index of 107%. Bummer- but AFAIK , they make profit.
In general - their meat and veggie section scores better than CF by local perceptions (Ref. the rotten veggie thread of Carrefour)
On the other hand, If I’d be Costco - I’d start thinking of a diversified store format once CF confirms to “sell” its stores here (the majority is rented) . We all know that Costco is merely a window-shopping-free tasting-carnival-circus paradise for the average TW family in the weekend, but maybe they could set-up 2 formats.
Keep Costco for real professionals (and please…NO children under 9 YO allowed) and take one of the other group banners to go Hyper market
As for the Belgian beers, they will always be around - at 30% more in Breeze supermarket or Direct delivery from Kaohsiung. No worries on that.
Exactly, they did a swap before with Tesco.
There’s a lot:
The bread at their larger stores is excellent and cheap. Better qaulity than anything else aside from a few stores that are extremely expensive.
The have some excellent bottles of spirits that are available NOWHERE else in Taiwan - a few rums, a gin and a couple of other things.
As mentioned their house brand and their ‘Reflets de France’ things are often excellent products for the price.
I would be extremely sad to see them go. RT Mart may be better and cheaper for fruit and veg, but they seriously lag in other areas, and I despise Costco for a number of reasons.
How long ago did you last have some, and at which store? Ｈave you tried any of the European style stuff in the last 6 months or so, the ciabatta, boules, etc. at, say, the Neihu Carrefour? It’s actually okay (compared to most local stuff), and is inexpensive, so faced with the choice at most local bakeries (the real “horrid”), vs. the (sometimes obscenetly) overpriced stuff at the better Euro-style bakeries, vs. at least some of the Carrefours, I can certainly see why people buy it.
I liked the Carrefour in Thailand, but a lot of items were ridiculously overpriced. I went a couple of times in Taiwan and did not like the experience at all.
I would miss it tremendously.
If they go, i guess i officially have no reason to drive into the city. Not sure if thats good or bad though.
Worldwide they lost 2.1 billion Euro … enough to start thinking about another reorganization, they already had one in 2010, they are definitely doing something not right.
This would really suck if it happened. I love Carrefour. Taking out Carrefour would be like… taking out 7-Eleven.
I sure hope this is just a rumor and nothing else. I too would miss Carrefour. Years ago their bread was shit, but in the last few years they have made great strides forward. As for everything else they have, it’s a hell of a lot better than going to Wellcome, IMO. By the way, in the last few years all the Wellcome branches in my area of Taipei have shrunk in size. It has me thinking they are disappearing from the market. Again, I sure hope Carrefour doesn’t.