Carrefour partnered with CFAO to open its first outlet in Cameroon under its Carrefour Market banner.
Carrefour opened its first store in Cameroon, in the country’s business capital, Douala. The new outlet, under the retailer’s banner Carrefour Market, was developed within a shopping centre with the same name, located in the Bonamoussadi neighborhood, in Douala’s northern 5th district.
The new retail investment was developed in cooperation with CFAO Retail, Carrefour’s partner in West Africa, namely in Côte d’Ivoire. The new shopping centre covers a total surface area of 8,250m2, including the car park, and cost FCFA7bn ($12.6m). The Carrefour supermarket has a retail area of 1,430m2. It has twelve aisles and stocks more than 10,000 SKUs, including 1,500 local products. The store is open seven days a week, from 8am to 10pm, and will employ 350 people. The mall will also have a restaurant and six other stores carrying CFAO brands.
Carrefour new store in Douala, Cameroon. Source: Carrefour
While at the store official opening, CFAO’s CEO Xavier Desjobert said that Carrefour Market was just the first step in the planned Carrefour roll-out in Cameroon, further announcing the country’s capital Yaoundé would receive a PlaYce shopping mall in Q1 2019, which will include a Carrefour outlet. The expansion of the PlaYce brand, already present in Côte d’Ivoire, is part of Carrefour’s and CFAO’s “long-term growth strategy in Central and West Africa”. The two companies have announced plans to expand to Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, DRC and Senegal.
Carrefour’s entry in Cameroon, and particularly in Douala, is bound to increase the retail competition in the country – where supermarkets have been set for battle for a while. According to Trendtype’s Retail Database Tracker, Casino, Spar, Super U and Choithrams all have stores in the country. Just a few years ago, Cameroon had only two supermarket chains of note: Casino (Mercure International) and Mahima (Choithrams). In August 2017 Choithrams’ Mahima supermarket chain opened its sixth store in Cameroon, also in Bonamoussadi. The Carrefour Market store will also compete directly against local supermarket chain Kado in Bonamoussadi.
CFAO explains this trend with the rise of the middle class in the country and specifically in Douala, where the retailer says it is witnessing a new class of consumers “seeking access to modern products at the best possible prices, (…), with high standards and loyal to the local economy.”
The entry of Carrefour had been planned and announced earlier in the year and had not been immune to controversy. Some fear that the presence of a retail giant will have a negative impact on jobs, especially among shopkeepers. Concurrently, there have also been concerns regarding the entry in the market of imported brands and the competition they will present to local products and manufacturing. Possibly addressing these concerns, statements made by representatives of the French retailer have detailed that the new outlet and the investment made in the surrounding shopping centre have already created 350 new jobs. Additionally, Carrefour and CFAO have provided training and qualification to the new hires, both in Douala and in Côte d’Ivoire.
