Shira Sapir, Galit Hatan | 09/05/2023
14 months after announcing their entry to Israel, French retail giant Carrefour has launched 50 branches across Israel with an investment of ILS 250 million. In addition, the Carrefour Online website has also been launched, and will initially serve limited delivery areas. All in all, by the end of the year 80-100 branches are expected to open.
As part of the process of converting the branches and adjusting them to the international standard, about 20 professionals from Carrefour International had visited the Israeli branches to train the local teams. Branches were opened in three formats: Carrefour City (neighborhood stores), Carrefour Market (medium-sized stores), and Carrefour Hyper (discount stores). The branches currently offer about 1,000 Carrefour-label products in 82 categories, like food (including organic products), toiletry, cleaning, and other non-food products.
The launch ceremony was held at the Carrefour Hyper Ra’anana branch, and was attended by Minister of Economy Nir Barkat, Carrefour Group CEO Alexandre Bompard, Carrefour Group Board of Directors Chairman Philippe Houzé, Carrefour International Partnerships CEO Patrick Lasfargues, Carrefour Israel CEO Uri Kilstein, Electra Consumer Products CEO Zvika Schwimmer, Electra’s controlling shareholders Danny and Mikey Salkind, and Workers Association Chairman Eyal Elli.
“This is an earthquake in the Israeli food market. For the first time in history, an international retail chain, a leading global chain, is coming to Israel,” said Uri Kilstein, Carrefour Israel CEO. “We have made across-the-board price reductions on existing products, and Carrefour will be relatively cheap compared to competitors in the city, and cheaper outside the city in discount complexes… we will build a strong and stable company here that will set the tone in the food retail market.”
Patrick Lasfargues, CEO of Carrefour's international partnerships: “This is a part of our international development strategy, in accordance with the ‘Carrefour 2026’ plan. We are convinced that Carrefour Israel will provide a real solution to Israeli consumers and significantly improve their purchasing power.”
Carrefour has about 14 thousand branches in Europe, the Middle East, South America, East Asia, and Africa, and its annual sales turnover is approximately €81 billion.