Carrefour Poland has reported that sales grew by 5.5% last year, reaching PLN 9.68 billion (€2.3 billion), as a result of continued expansion and modernisation.
The retailer invested PLN 244.6 million (€58.12 million) in its network during the year, opening three new hypermarkets, eight supermarkets, and around 100 residential stores.
This includes the new high-tech Carrefour PRO hypermarket in Warsaw, which was opened in December and features a range of new commercial concepts and digital retail solutions, such as interactive ordering screens.
Carrefour made a number of other digital investments in its Polish operations during the year.
The retailer launched Carrefour Marketplace, which offers more than 150,000 products online from around 150 sellers; introduced Skid, a collaborative online shopping platform that allows customers to do grocery shopping for each other; expanded its Scan & Go capabilities in store, enabling shoppers to use mobile payments; and worked with C4 Retail Lab, the first Polish incubator for start-ups.
"2017 was a year of great technological progress at Carrefour Poland," said Guillaume de Colognes, president of Carrefour's operations in Poland. "We have managed to develop both the chain of traditional stores, as well as the availability and attractiveness of our online offering."
Future Plans
Carrefour celebrated its 20th anniversary in Poland last year, but it is still continuing to expand and develop its business.
In 2018, the retailer says that it plans to strengthen its position in the Polish market by developing new retail solutions in house and in cooperation with external partners, and by focusing on nutritional produce in its stores.
"Our priorities for 2018 are primarily the further development of modern solutions and the commencement of a nutritional transformation in Poland," said de Colognes. "We want to become a pioneer in the range of healthy products and be the first-choice network for customers seeking high quality at affordable prices."
These goals are in line with Carrefour's five-year transformation plan, which was launched by group chief executive Alexandre Bompard at the start of the year and focuses on the growth of omnichannel retail and the promotion of food quality.
In 2018, Carrefour says that it will focus on modernising its retail network in Poland, refurbishing seven hypermarkets and around 20 hypermarkets.
However, it also plans to open two new supermarkets and about 100 neighbourhood stores, strengthening its position in the convenience retail sector and bringing its total network to over 900 stores across the country.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Carrefour could be interested in acquiring supermarket chain Piotr i Paweł, which operates 148 supermarkets in Poland.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
