At eight o'clock in the evening, in the prime time of the small peak of supermarket traffic, Carrefour Beijing Shuangjing store ended its day's business. This deters not only scalpers who run on goods, but also consumers who come to shop.

A reporter from Beijing Business Daily recently found that the evening closing time of Carrefour's Beijing Shuangjing store was adjusted from 22 o'clock to 19 o'clock. At the same time, consumers can settle 20% of the total amount with a shopping card at the time of checkout. Once again, the shelves in the store were left empty. The problems of cash flow and operation are once again in front of Carrefour.

The settlement percentage of shopping cards can be reduced

A few months ago, Carrefour's shopping card was limited, and now the shopping card consumption has been adjusted again. At half past 19, before it got dark, Carrefour's Beijing Shuangjing store was temporarily closed. More than ten "warm reminders" have also been posted at the entrance of the supermarket, and "the business hours of the store will be changed from 2023 am to 6 pm from June 2, 10".

At half past 20, there were still consumers who came to the supermarket, but the supermarket was closed. At this time, a scalper asked a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, "Is there an unwanted Carrefour shopping card?" We buy more than 1% off here."

Not only the opening hours have changed, but the use of Carrefour shopping cards has once again been restricted. Ms. Yang, a consumer, has a Carrefour shopping card with a denomination of 500 yuan, and after searching on the map that Carrefour Beijing Shuangjing store is still open, she went to make a purchase. Upon arrival, Ms. Yang was told that only 20% of the amount at checkout could be settled with a shopping card. This means that if Ms. Yang wants to spend all the 500 yuan shopping card, she needs to buy 2500,2000 yuan of goods, and in addition to the shopping card payment, Ms. Yang will also pay <>,<> yuan.

Ms. Yang told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that the rush to exchange the shopping card for goods is because "Carrefour has fewer and fewer stores in Beijing, and I am worried that the shopping card is stuck in hand."

At the end of May, Carrefour supermarkets could use shopping cards to settle 5%, and after entering June, this proportion dropped to 40%.

In response, the relevant person in charge of Beijing Carrefour responded that in order to put an end to the recent concentrated run on goods cashing out by scalpers and effectively reduce the proportion of shopping card consumption, the company has made temporary adjustments to the consumption policies of shopping cards in some cities. In the short term, it will have a certain impact on consumers' normal shopping, and Carrefour will optimize relevant policies at any time according to the decline in the proportion of shopping card consumption.

Nearly 40% of shelves are idle

Looking back two months ago, Beijing Carrefour Supermarket announced that the store was transformed into a community quality life center. Carrefour Beijing Shuangjing store is the first integrated transformation store. The Beijing Shuangjing store, which has been transformed into a Carrefour community quality life center, is full of goods. At that time, the relevant person in charge of Beijing Carrefour said that the store increased its own brand goods, and the SKU was streamlined from 1,8 to 9000,<>, and the construction of the pre-made vegetable area in the store would be promoted in stages.

A reporter from Beijing Business Daily walked into Carrefour's Beijing Shuangjing store and found that nearly 40% of the shelves were idle. Pre-made dishes are reduced to scattered goods and empty shelves; In the rice, flour, grain and oil area, there is only one commodity on each shelf, and the category is relatively single.

In Carrefour's Beijing Shuangjing store, consumers who buy goods are also communicating with each other, "Where Carrefour stores can continue to use shopping cards for payment", and each other responds that "other stores are similar to here".

For the shortage of goods and empty shelves, Beijing Carrefour said that the company's recent background data shows that the proportion of shopping card consumption in some regions is abnormal again, and the malicious payment of scalpers has risen, which has seriously affected Carrefour's normal operation and cash flow, aggravated the shortage of stores, and then damaged consumers' normal shopping rights. In Beijing, in the process of supply chain recovery and improvement, major brands such as Budweiser, Arowana, Luhua, Xu Fuji, Unilever and other major brands have sufficient inventory, and Tianrun Milk Beer, Yunsheng Liquor and Royal Paste will be on the shelves in the near future.

A supermarket industry practitioner told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that most suppliers cooperate with supermarket supply, most of which are paid by suppliers in advance, and then the supermarket settles the payment to the supplier. Suppliers will pay keen attention to the operation of channel providers, and when there is a fluctuation, they will withdraw or stop supply in time. In this case, fluctuations in sales and the departure of suppliers will form a "vicious circle" of supermarket operations.

Seek a new curve of community and e-commerce growth

Under the new trend of consumption, the competition in the hypermarket industry has intensified, and hypermarket, as the main format of Carrefour's development, is at the center of consumption reform and competition. Carrefour is looking for new growth to make up for the shortcomings of the hypermarket era. The relevant person in charge of Beijing Carrefour revealed that Beijing Carrefour supermarket is connected to Suning.com App, Meituan, Ele.me, Jingdong Dajia, Taoxianda and other platforms to make instant delivery. From January to May this year, Beijing Carrefour's online orders increased by more than 1% year-on-year. At the same time, Beijing Carrefour has reached a strategic cooperation with "One Group of Good Things", which will expand the community group buying business.

Community has also become one of Carrefour's expansion directions. The relevant person in charge of Beijing Carrefour pointed out that Carrefour has been constantly upgraded around the "quarter-hour convenient living circle", and deeply integrated with Suning.com to create a richer experience and scene for consumers. At present, the fresh food area of Carrefour Beijing Shuangjing Store is planned to be upgraded and transformed, and more life formats such as food and education will be presented one after another to meet more needs of consumers.

Wen Zhihong, an expert in the chain industry, said that from the perspective of market conditions, retail transformation, it is difficult to form new attractiveness by relying on goods alone, positioning transformation should be changed from retail channel providers to service providers, and instant retail is a new field that enterprises should cultivate.

Industry expert Chen Jia said that traditional supermarkets, including Carrefour, should pay attention to the strategic comparative advantages of urban network layout, and are expected to win policy dividends under the new situation.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Wang Weiyi