Carrefour S.A.

What does Carrefour own?
Carrefour operates a network of more than 14,000 stores across 30+ countries under formats including Carrefour hypermarkets, Carrefour Market supermarkets, Carrefour Express convenience stores, and the Atacadao cash-and-carry format in Brazil. The company also operates Carrefour Banque, a financial services business providing consumer credit and insurance in France.

Is Carrefour publicly traded?
Yes, Carrefour S.A. trades on Euronext Paris under ticker symbol CA. The company has no controlling shareholder, with ownership distributed among institutional investors and individual shareholders.

What is Carrefour's annual revenue?
In FY2024, Carrefour reported net sales of €85.4 billion and total revenue of €87.3 billion. France is the largest single market, accounting for approximately 40% of group revenue.

Who is Carrefour's CEO?
Alexandre Bompard has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Carrefour since June 2017. Before joining Carrefour, Bompard led FNAC Darty, a French electronics and cultural goods retailer. He launched the Carrefour 2022 and subsequently Carrefour 2026 strategic plans.

Who invented the hypermarket?
Carrefour is widely credited with opening the world's first hypermarket on June 15, 1963, in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris. The format combined a full supermarket with general merchandise under one roof and became the dominant large-format retail model in Europe and Latin America.

Where does Carrefour operate?
Carrefour operates in more than 30 countries, with its largest markets being France, Spain, Brazil, Belgium, Poland, Italy, and Taiwan. The company operates a mix of company-owned stores and franchised locations, with franchise arrangements particularly common in smaller markets and convenience formats.

Carrefour was founded in 1958 by Marcel Fournier and brothers Denis and Jacques Defforey in Annecy, in the French Alps. The founders opened a small supermarket in the city center and quickly identified an opportunity to develop a larger format that could offer a wider range of products at competitive prices.

On June 15, 1963, Carrefour opened what is widely recognized as the world's first hypermarket in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris. The store combined a full supermarket with clothing, appliances, and other general merchandise under one roof, with ample parking for car-owning consumers. The format was a commercial success and was rapidly replicated across France and internationally.

Carrefour expanded internationally in the late 1960s and 1970s, opening stores in Belgium (1969), Spain (1973), Brazil (1975), and Argentina (1982). The company's international expansion strategy focused on markets where the hypermarket format was not yet established and where Carrefour could enter as a first mover with a differentiated retail proposition.

In France, Carrefour faced increasing competition from other hypermarket operators including Auchan, Leclerc, and Intermarché through the 1980s and 1990s. The company responded by expanding its private label offerings, investing in store quality, and developing smaller-format stores to serve urban consumers.

In 1999, Carrefour merged with Promodès, a French retail group that operated the Champion supermarket chain and Shopi convenience stores, in a transaction valued at approximately €16 billion. The merger created one of the world's two largest retailers alongside Walmart and significantly expanded Carrefour's European supermarket presence.

The 2000s were a period of strategic repositioning for Carrefour. The company divested operations in markets where it lacked scale or competitive position, including Japan (2005), South Korea (2006), Mexico (2005), and Switzerland (2007). These divestitures reflected a recognition that Carrefour's hypermarket format was not universally competitive and that the company needed to focus resources on markets where it had strong positions.

Alexandre Bompard was appointed Chairman and CEO in June 2017, succeeding Georges Plassat. Bompard, who had previously led FNAC Darty, launched the Carrefour 2022 strategic plan focused on cost reduction, digital transformation, and portfolio optimization. The plan was subsequently extended as the Carrefour 2026 plan, targeting continued cost savings, food transition leadership, and digital commerce growth.

In February 2025, Bompard announced a new strategic plan targeting €1 billion in annual cost cuts, with a refocus on Carrefour's core markets of France, Spain, and Brazil. The plan reflected a strategic decision to concentrate resources on the company's strongest markets rather than pursuing broad international expansion.

Carrefour has established comprehensive sustainability and ethical frameworks centered on environmental responsibility, food transition leadership, and corporate governance across its global retail operations. The company's CSR and Food Transition Index, created in 2018, serves as the primary mechanism for tracking and measuring sustainability performance across four key areas: responsible product sourcing, store activities and logistics, customer perception and satisfaction, and workforce commitment.

Environmental sustainability represents a cornerstone of Carrefour's strategy, with ambitious targets for carbon reduction, packaging elimination, and food waste prevention. The company has committed to reaching 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging by 2025, while simultaneously cutting CO2 emissions by 40% and halving food waste across its operations. In 2024, Carrefour exceeded its extra-financial objectives, achieving a CSR and Food Transition Index score of 111%, demonstrating strong performance against its sustainability commitments.

Carrefour's carbon reduction strategy includes targets for a 30% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2025, a 50% reduction by 2030, and a 70% reduction by 2040, all measured against a 2019 baseline. The company is investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable logistics to achieve these goals while maintaining operational competitiveness across its diverse retail formats.

Food waste reduction initiatives include price reductions for products approaching their best-before dates, partnerships with food banks (which received 164 million meals in 2017), and innovative packaging solutions that balance food preservation with waste reduction. Carrefour has eliminated plastic packaging from all organic products and stopped selling plastic straws, responding to consumer demand for more sustainable packaging options.

The company has partnered with TerraCycle's Loop platform as Europe's first retail partner, introducing reusable packaging systems for approximately 100 products including 20 private label organic items. This initiative demonstrates Carrefour's commitment to circular economy principles and packaging innovation, with the company managing the full supply chain including delivery, customer service, and packaging collection.

Supply chain ethics and responsible sourcing are fundamental to Carrefour's sustainability approach. The company has implemented sustainable forestry policies aimed at zero deforestation, sustainable fishing programs, and initiatives to promote animal welfare across its supply chain. Carrefour works with industrial partners to achieve 1,000 reusable packaging solutions and supports various re-use, deposit, and sold-loose schemes in its stores.

Corporate governance includes linking sustainability performance to executive compensation, with 25% of group managers' pay tied to the CSR index as part of long-term incentive plans. This alignment ensures that sustainability objectives are integrated into business decision-making at all levels of the organization.

Carrefour has received significant recognition for its sustainability leadership, retail innovation, and corporate responsibility initiatives across its global operations.

• CSR and Food Transition Index Excellence (2024): Carrefour achieved a score of 111% on its CSR and Food Transition Index, exceeding its extra-financial objectives and demonstrating outstanding performance against sustainability targets across responsible sourcing, store operations, customer satisfaction, and workforce commitment categories.
• Packaging Sustainability Leadership (2025): Recognized by Packaging Europe for innovative approaches to packaging reduction and circular economy implementation, including the partnership with TerraCycle's Loop platform and commitments to eliminate unnecessary packaging across organic product lines.
• Food Waste Reduction Recognition: Acknowledged for comprehensive food waste prevention programs, including partnerships with food banks that have facilitated the donation of 164 million meals and innovative approaches to reducing waste while maintaining food safety and quality.
• Carbon Reduction Leadership: Recognized for ambitious carbon emission reduction targets, including commitments to 40% CO2 reduction by 2025, 50% by 2030, and 70% by 2040, positioning Carrefour among the leading retail companies in climate action commitment.
• Sustainable Supply Chain Innovation: Acknowledged for sustainable forestry policies targeting zero deforestation, sustainable fishing programs, and comprehensive animal welfare initiatives across its global supply chain network.
• Retail Sustainability Partnerships: Recognized for pioneering partnerships with sustainability organizations including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and leadership in collaborative industry approaches to environmental challenges.
• Executive Compensation Integration: Noted for innovative governance approaches linking 25% of group managers' compensation to CSR index performance, demonstrating commitment to integrating sustainability into corporate decision-making.

Carrefour has faced regulatory scrutiny in multiple markets related to its market position, supplier relationships, and pricing practices. In France, the company has been subject to investigations by competition authorities regarding its negotiations with food suppliers, which are regulated under French commercial law to protect smaller suppliers from the bargaining power of large retailers.

In Brazil, Carrefour faced significant public controversy in 2020 following the death of a Black man at a Carrefour store in Porto Alegre, which triggered protests and calls for boycotts. The company responded with commitments to anti-racism programs and diversity initiatives in Brazil.