FRANCE: Carrefour focusing on price | Progresiv
Carrefour has begun highlighting how much customers can save by shopping in its hypermarkets. In a given month, Carrefour compares the prices of its customers' real shopping baskets with those of a competing store within a 30km radius. It then emails the customer a 'virtual receipt' showing them how much they saved during the month and which products were cheaper. 
Carrefour has been working hard to improve both price positioning and price image across its operations globally, across all formats, although it is particularly important within the French hypermarket business. This latest initiative takes the strategy on a step, and helps differentiate Carrefour from competitors.
Leclerc will be watching this initiative with interest. Its low price positioning is a core feature of its strategy and it highlights this via price comparison website quiestlemoinscher.com (who is the cheapest) and associated app. The site enables customers to check prices in each centre Leclerc, on brands and private label, and compare them to those in competitors' stores across France. This has an advantage, in that customers can check prices in advance of the shopping trip. (www.igd.com)
