Chapter 92 comes from the acquisition of Carefour

Founded in 1960, it has grown to become the largest retailer in Europe today, and will become the second largest international retail chain group and a member of the top 500 of the top 500 companies in Shijie after the merger of Primordes in the future. CareFour now has more than 11,000 retail units in operation, with a business scope in more than 30 countries and regions. With an annual turnover of tens of billions of French francs and hundreds of thousands of employees, it is no exaggeration to call the CareFour Group a behemoth.

In the mid-eighties, the board of directors of CareFour Group had realized that CareFour Group had reached a bottleneck in Europe, and even if it continued to increase investment in European countries and increase the number of stores, it would be impossible for Carefour Group's turnover to increase significantly, and the population of Europe was decreasing year by year, but it was determined that this big market would only gradually cringe if there was no fresh foreign blood-fluid-supplement. Although European countries have not closed their doors to migrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America, the number of migrants each year is only slightly higher than the number of deaths.

As a result, the Board of Directors of the Carefour Group has set its sights beyond Europe. The United States, as the largest country in the Shijie economy, has a large population and extremely strong consumption power, which is undoubtedly coveted by the CareFour Group, but the United States has Vorma, the largest chain retail enterprise on the Shijie, and when it enters the United States, it will undoubtedly have to fight with it in close quarters to compete for market share, which is also an extremely severe test for the CareFour Group.

Although CareFour Group is the pioneer of the hypermarket format, the board of directors of CareFour Group is not sure of victory in the face of this American chain retail giant with an annual turnover of tens of billions of dollars, thousands of shopping malls in the United States, and hundreds of thousands of employees. Moreover, the board of directors of CareFour Group knows very well that Vorma Group, as the head snake of the United States, has a complex network of relationships in the political and economic circles of the United States, and if it wants to shake its position in the United States, the price that CareFour Group has to pay is far greater than imagined, and once it fails, it may even affect the vitality of CareFour Group and shake the foundation of CareFour Group.

When two tigers fight, there must be an injury, and the directors of CareFour Group are still very clear in their hearts. Just as the Vorma Group is not in a hurry to enter the European market in a big way, it is only committed to the American market and emerging markets. Although the two behemoths did not reach an agreement, they tacitly agreed not to make a big move on each other's territory.

Without the American market, the only countries left are Asian and African countries. Africa, although it is not far from Europe, just across the Mediterranean, but the political instability in Africa is a discouragement for the directors of the CareFour Group. How can a place of turmoil, turmoil, and unrest, a change of government that may occur at any time, guarantee the smooth recovery of the group's investment? Moreover, the generally low income of African countries also makes their spending power very limited, and even if they enter it, the annual benefits they can obtain are quite limited.

The directors of the CareFour Group have set their sights on Asia, especially East Asia. East Asia has Japan, which has long occupied the throne of Shijie's second economic power, China, the country's largest population in Shijie, as well as South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia, these countries and regions, in recent years, East Asia's economic development rate is considerable, is Shijie recognized as an emerging market, where the national consumption power, showing a blowout momentum of development, so that Carefour Group is salivating.

With a population of more than one billion, which is several times that of Europe, if such a huge consumption power is unleashed, it will be tantamount to adding wings to the tiger for the CareFour Group! Especially in the Chinese market, if it can be won, the directors of the Carefour Group will have the confidence to compete with the Vorma Group. Therefore, in the first year, Carefour Group landed in Taiwan to test the Chinese market.

Carefour's shopping malls in Taiwan have achieved excellent results in less than half a year after landing, which has made the board members of Carefour Group overjoyed and strengthened their determination to enter the Chinese market.

To this end, the Carefour Group also held a special board meeting to discuss the issue.

"I believe that everyone is already clear about last year's performance, well, what we are going to discuss today is our East Asian expansion this year! Nicholas, you can talk about it first. "Chairman Henri Blank, a Frenchman in his mid-60s, has been at the helm of the CareFour Group for almost a decade, under his leadership the Group's rapid growth to become the largest retail chain in Europe.

Nicolas Lacoster, President of the CareFour Group, has held this position for six years and is a German national, but this does not affect his position in the CareFour Group. "Ladies and gentlemen, as the chairman said, our group's goal this year is to vigorously explore the East Asian market while ensuring the stable development of the European domestic market. The Huaxia market is the top priority in this jihua. I believe that I don't need to repeat the importance of the Chinese market here, its huge population, as well as the rapid development of the economy, can provide our group with a stable and extremely considerable consumer base. Moreover, I believe that China's economic development will continue for a long time, and it may even become an economic power with a GDP comparable to that of Japan. Of course, I'm not saying they're going to be an economic powerhouse. ”

The directors present showed a knowing smile, as the top three in terms of land area, the largest population, and the economic level of China, which has been ahead of Shijie for thousands of years, if it cannot enter the top three economic rankings of Shijie countries, it is a speechless result. You must know that in the late Qing Dynasty, if you talk about GDP statistics, Huaxia is the top few countries in Shijie. Before 1840, the Qing Dynasty was still the first shijie. A big country does not mean a strong country!

"Through our trial operation in Taiwan last year, I believe that the market in Huaxia must be occupied by our group, which will determine the development prospects of our group in the next one or two decades, and at the same time, it is also likely to be the main battlefield for us to compete with Vorma Group for the first retail chain enterprise in Shijie!" said Nicholas impassionedly.

"Forgive me for interrupting, President Nicholas. One of the directors, seated third on the left, raised his hand.

"Excuse me, Director Gabriel. Nicholas said in a deep voice. Gabriel, a Portuguese director, represents the Grosjean family, which owns about seven percent of the shares in the Carefour group and has considerable influence.

"In terms of the current economic situation in East Asia, Japan is still far ahead of other countries, and Japan's population is quite impressive. I'm not opposed to the group's foray into China, but I think for now, it seems that President Nicholas should give you an explanation of the situation in Japan, isn't it?" Director Gabriel looked around. Many of the directors present bowed their heads slightly and agreed with him.

Nicholas smiled slightly: "Director Gabriel, this is the second proposal I originally planned to report to the board of directors, since you have proposed it now, director, then I will explain your problem first." Japan, a small island country with only 300,000 square kilometers, has achieved the second place in terms of GDP, which shows that its economy is quite developed. Japan has a population of 100 million, and from any point of view, the Japanese market is indeed the most brilliant and dazzling pearl in the crown of the East Asian market. But based on the results of our research over the past few days, I think that we can only intervene slightly in the Japanese market, and we cannot expand significantly within its borders. ”

"Is this weishenme?" said Director Gabriel, surprised, "Is there a commercial retail chain giant like the Warmar Group in Japan?" Nicholas's statement sounded somewhat contradictory to him, and it was not strange to admit that Japan was impossible to ignore both economically and demographically, and at the same time abandon expansion within Japan.

Nicholas flipped through a few pages of the information at hand, glanced at it, and then said, "Director Gabriel, I can give you the answer to your question." For several reasons, the management of the Group and I believe that the Japanese market is not worth fighting for. First, although Japan does not have a large retail chain enterprise like our group and Woerma Group, but Japan's domestic commercial retail field, after so many years of development, has basically been carved up by Japan's local enterprises, if we enter the Japanese market, the first thing we will face will be the joint resistance of Japanese local enterprises, which is very unfavorable for us. And there is another characteristic of the Japanese retail market, that is, the supply chain is extremely long and stable. To put it simply, if a product wants to enter the store, it must go through several middlemen, and these suppliers may be like this for decades, and no one is allowed to be jumped out, and there is no direct supply from the manufacturer at all. Since each intermediary has a non-replaceable mark-up, our group has no price and fee advantage in Japan unless we can break with this tradition. ”

The directors present glanced at each other and shook their heads slightly, it is conceivable how difficult it is to break the business tradition of a mature market with the liliang of a business group. Even if it succeeds, the costs will probably outweigh the benefits compared to the returns obtained, and the Group's strategy to expand into the Japanese market will need to be thought twice.