Carrefour was the first retailer to open its hypermarkets that offer everything from electronics to groceries. Its first hypermarket was opened in 1995, now after 13 years it has 73 hypermarkets throughout 29 cities. China is the fifth largest market for Carrefour from which came $2 million of turnover in 2005 and an annual growth expectance of 25% to 30% over the next five years. The company in mainland is led by Jean-Luc Chéreau who came in 1999 after doing business in Taiwan for seven years. He was interviewed and talked a little about Carrefour’s experience in China.
When he came to China, the market was just beginning to open, they started by opening stores in the main cities and costal areas and learned about their consumers from those cities before expanding to other cities. Their entrance to the market can be considered of 18 years including the first entrance to Taiwan. The difference is that in the western and middle part of China, the market is less mature because there is limited purchasing power. He also says that those companies who entered to Taiwan when the mainland’s market was closed have a great advantage in China. The way Chinese people do business is different from what he used to do. Every time there was a change in the company, the partner company they were negotiating with came and wanted to renegotiate the a contract that was signed for ten years. It’s a different world, you can’t have preconceived ideas because you were successful in the U.S. or Europe.
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