Groupe Casino has announced that its e-tailing arm, Cdiscount, is launching in four countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Second in e-commerce to Amazon in France, Cdiscount posted €3.7 billion worth of sales in 2017.
According to Jean-Charles Naouri, CEO of Casino Group, "This international launch represents an important new step for Cdiscount, and cements its place as a major e-commerce player in France."
Logistics Partnership
The international expansion is due to its partnership with logistics company Chronopost.
It will enable Cdiscount to ship to customers in Belgium and Spain in less than 48 hours, and Italy and Germany within 72 hours. Cdiscount has also created a dedicated customer hotline and will translate its website into a number of languages in the coming months.
Instead of opening new facilities in each of the countries, it will operate collection points with existing local businesses. Cdiscount plans to have 700 such points in Belgium, 1,500 in Spain, and 14,500 in Germany.
Emmanuel Grenier, the chief executive of Cdiscount, sees this development as a crucial step in one of the few markets not completely dominated by Amazon.
"We are convinced of the need for a pan-European actor in e-commerce and are thrilled to be the ones launching it," Grenier explained. "Along with Rakuten in Japan, France is one of the only countries where Amazon has a serious rival."
Third Time Lucky
It's not the first time that Cdiscount has tried to go international. Actually, it's the company's third attempt to expand into other countries.
With the support of parent company Groupe Casino, it launched in Africa in 2014 and in Thailand, Vietnam and Columbia in 2015. It failed to gain sufficient traction in those markets and eventually shut up shop in 2016.
The situation has been complicated in Europe, too, with a failed attempt to launch in Germany and the UK in 2009.
To underpin its latest strategy, Cdiscount has announced that its products will also be stocked by local e-tailers. In Belgium and Italy, it will partner up with Pixmania, whereas in Spain, it will work with VidaXL.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Matthieu Chassain. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
