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Groupe Casino of France, the oldest and one of the largest market chains in the world, and owner of Big C in Thailand has acquisitioned Carrefour’s 42 outlets in Thailand and it is now similar in size to Tesco Lotus in the Kingdom. Carrefour positioned itself a bit higher than Tesco Lotus, while Big C targeted a lower-priced market than either Carrefour or Tesco Lotus.
It seems simple enough to me, although I am not a hypermarket strategic analyst. There are many chains competing for the lower-end market as does Carrefour, with only a small segment of Carrefour’s retail outlets offering higher-priced premium cheeses, wines and other quality items in areas where these items are in demand, why not keep the status quo within these stores, and let the rest compete as they always have. In other words, many of us, especially the French community, would be upset to see the few premium items that these few stores stock vaporize into another “product for the masses” Big C.
