VS

Sahil Juneja

Gaurav Sengupta

Yash Vardhan Kejriwal

Company Overview

Carrefour

Carrefour S.A. (Euronext: CA) is a French international hypermarket chain. Headquartered

in Levallois-Perret, France, Carrefour is the largest hypermarket chain in the world in terms of

size, the second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue and third largest

in profit after Wal-Mart and Tesco. Carrefour operates mainly in Europe, Argentina, Brazil,

China, Colombia and in the Dominican Republic, but also has shops in North Africa and other

parts of Asia. Carrefour means "crossroads" in French.

Majid Al Futtaim Retail

Recognized as one of the most active shopping concept developers throughout the region, the

Group first introduced the hypermarket model to the Middle East in 1995. Majid Al Futtaim

Retail manages Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets, a joint venture company with the world’s

second largest retailer Carrefour, and offers shoppers the same quality, variety and value-for-

money that have made the brand a household name to millions over the world.

Lulu

Lulu Hypermarket is a retail venture started by EMKE Group, based in Abu Dhabi. Lulu

Hypermarket has outlets in countries like UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Qatar. Shri

M.A Yusuffali is the Managing Director of EMKE Group. Lulu Hypermarket has over 20,000

employees of different nationalities. They are planning to expand their retail chains to Saudi

Arabia and India.

SWOT Analysis

Carrefour

Strengths WeaknessesClear Market Leader Focused too much on price rather than product

differentiationHigh Quality Lack of traditional products

Diversified client baseEffective marketing and sales promotions.

Opportunities ThreatsDevelopment of additional Products and

sevices.Increasing competition from stores like Lulu,

Geant.Could open a few more stores in newly

developed areas.Limited market size hinders further growth.

Lulu

Strengths WeaknessesA loyal Asian customer base. Lack of diversified customer base.

Offers traditional products Not very competitive pricing.People associate with low quality.

Consider it an Indian market.Less Variety.

Less marketing and promotions.

Opportunities ThreatsCould offer more variety of products. Competition from big players like Carrefour.

Could try and increase its customer base.Can really bank and grow on its niche market.

Market Dominance

Carrefour is the market leader and Lulu can be termed as a challenger. It is also a nicher as it

does have a niche market of Asians especially Indians and Pakistanis.

Growth Strategies

Both Carrefour and Lulu from being retailers they have also started producing their own products

and selling them. Carrefour with its own Carrefour brand and Lulu with its Ikon and Lulu

products.

Positioning

Carrefour

Low prices and much more. That is the tag line for Carrefour and how it wants to position itself

in the minds of the consumers. We believe that Carrefour has been successful in this as in our

survey 60% of the people said that they associated Carrefour with lower prices and that is the

best thing about them. The much more part is also covered as most people associate Carrefour

with high quality, variety and easy to shop in.

What is the best thing about Carrefour?0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

70

50

70

Large VarietyHigh QualityLow Prices

Lulu

Where the world comes to shop, that is the tagline of Lulu and that is how they look to position

themselves. However, that is not the case, visiting any Lulu you would see that about 80% of the

people are Asians and of those 90% are Indians or Pakistanis. They are trying to reach Carrefour

in terms of customer base but have not been able to.

Targeting

Lulu and Carrefour both target the same audience which is the lower to middle income groups

who are attracted by the low prices offered by them.

Marketing Mix

Carrefour

Product

Carrefour being a retail sector it sells the products of various brands as well as its own brand,

Carrefour. Moreover, it sells services like after sales service, customer service, etc. They offer

products like electronics, clothes, mattresses, home appliances, gardening, etc.

One very important factor for Carrefour is that it has a lot of variety in its products. A lot of

competitors sell the same products but Carrefour’s variety and quality are hard to match. For

example, the food section of Carrefour has:-

1. A bakery

2. A section for Arabic sweets

3. Fresh juice and Sushi Bar

4. 22 varieties of cheese.

5. 80 varieties of spices –Indian as well as others.

6. 48 varieties of fresh pickles.

7. 62 varieties of dry fruits.

8. 15 varieties of premium nuts.

When asked we asked the people one of the best things about Carrefour, 70% said it was

the variety of products and 50% said it was the high quality.

What is the best thing about Carrefour?0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

70

50

Large VarietyHigh Quality

Price

Carrefour offers lower and competitive prices than a large number of its competitors. Most of its

promotional activities have the price aspect linked to it. For example, all its advertisements

specifically highlight its low price factor. The current promotion (21.12.2010) going on is also

targeted at the price.

Crazy Prices- Winter Collection

Place

Store Placement

Number of stores: 5

Locations:-

1. Al Shindagha Store

2. Al Mamzar Century Mall

3. Deira City Center

4. Mall of Emirates

5. Mirdiff City Center

All of the Carrefour stores are located in either malls or near big markets. This is done by

Carrefour to tap into the strong mall culture prevalent in Dubai. It helps them increase their

impulse buy sales as many people frequently visit malls for other reasons and end up shopping

from Carrefour. It also helps them to cater to all sections of the society as people from all income

groups come to malls in Dubai. As Carrefour keeps products for everyone, the multicultural

crowd pull at a mall further improves its sales. Thus, the store placement of Carrefour has been

an important factor in its success.

Another important factor is the connectivity. Carrefour being in all the major malls, these malls

are well connected both by the Dubai metros and have 24 hour cab stands within the mall

grounds.

Product Placement

The first section you see when you enter any Carrefour is the electronics section. This is

probably a good strategy of Carrefour because most shoppers in Dubai (mostly the tourists) are

looking for electronics which are considered to be cheaper here. So, when they enter the store

they do not have to look for the section as it is right in the front and clearly visible from the

entrance. Other sections of Carrefour are also nicely marked and with easy to shop in. The

shelves are big and products related to each other are kept close by. For example, the entire foods

section is one side, entire section for utensils and related products on the other.

When we asked people to rate the quality easy to shop in; these were the results.

40

20

22

10 8

Easy to shop in

ExcellentVery GoodGoodFairPoor

Promotion

Mediums used: Print, in-store advertisements, Internet, Rewards program.

Print: Carrefour regularly gives advertisements in the various newspapers like Gulf news or the

Khaleej times. Most of its ads are big and easily noticeable. In addition, it gives a small

advertisement in the top right corner of the newspaper. It also gives brochures along with the

newspapers. Carrefour’s advertisements and brochures usually clearly mentions,

1. Low prices.

2. The name of the sale promotion like “fabulous festive food at very tempting prices”.

3. The offer period.

4. The price of the product.

5. A small picture of the product along with the price and description.

6. Carrefour’s web store address.

In-Store Advertisements: The promotional ads are clearly visible with a yellow background

and prices written in big bold black or red letters. Each label also carries a description of the

product. The labels are placed directly on the products or at the starting of each the rows or

hanging from the ceiling. Each row has some promotion related to the products in it.

Internet (Discussed at the end)

According to our survey we see that Carrefour has about 70% ad recall.

70

30

Do you recall carrefour's advertisments and/or promotions?

YesNo

When asked to rate the sales and promotion, the results are as follows

20

36

24

10 10

Sales and Promotion

ExcellentVery GoodGoodFairPoor

Lulu

Product

Lulu carries all the products that any other retail store carries but it has one major difference. Its

products are targeted at the Indian/Asian population in Dubai and that is its major point of

differentiation. It has separate sections for Indian ethnic wear, electronics and home appliances

of Indian recognized brands such as Elekta, JVC, Aftron, etc.

It also has Indian aluminum utensils in all shapes and sizes. Separate Indian Snacks and food

counters. Practically, anything you might find in a Hypermarket in India.

When asked we asked the people one of the best things about Lulu, 70% said it was the fact

that they had Indian Products.

What is the best thing about Lulu?0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

70

Indian Products

Indian Products

Price

Lulu prices its products competitively. However, when people were asked to rate its ‘low prices’,

these were the results.

1016

1450

10

Low Prices

ExcellentVery GoodGoodFairPoor

Promotion

Medium used- In store brochures, Radio, Internet, Rewards Program.

Radio: It regularly gives radio advertisements for promoting its store offers and products. It also

promotes the fact that it provides low prices and high quality.

In-Store Brochures:-

1. Catalog type brochures.

2. Have small pictures and names of all products.

They have also promotions like scratch cards, deal of the day and seasonal promotions like the

one going on (21.12.2010) Live for Free.

Rewards Program: Lulu has recently started the ADCB Lulu credit card program where you

can earn redeemable points every time you buy something from Lulu and also get discounts and

offers.

Internet (Discussed at the end).

The ad recall of Lulu is not good as the add recall came to about only 40%.

40

60

Do you recall Lulu's advertisments and/or promotions?

YesNo

Place

Store Placement

Number of stores: 6

Locations:-

1. Lulu Hypermarket , Al Quasis

2. Lulu Hypermarket , Al Barsha

3. Lulu Hypermarket, Karama

4. Lulu center, Deira

5. Lulu center, Karama

6. Lulu Supermarket, Karama

All of Lulu’s stores are stand alone stores unlike carrefour’s. They do have six stores but three of

those are in the same area, Karama. This seriously flaws their placement as they could have

easily utilized the other two stores at a different location and clubbed all Karama locations into

one. Most people would just go to their hypermarket as it has more options.

Moreover, of the six Lulu’s only three are hypermarkets. The rest are small local centers or

stores. Lulu tries to mimic Wal-Mart’s culture of huge stand alone warehouse kind of stores

which are separate and away from malls or other outlets.

Another factor is connectivity. All lulu stores are low in connectivity both by cabs and metros. It

is not very easy to find a cab or get a metro while on your way back from Lulu.

Product Placement

When you enter a lulu store you see nothing distinct as you enter. There is no particular section

that you see. You see a huge line of rows where you can start shopping. Another thing to note is

that Lulu always keeps separate areas instead of sections. For example, Lulu Al Barsha has

ground floor general groceries, food items, etc and second floor for electronics, furniture,

clothes, etc. Lulu at Karama has three different Lulu stores next to each other and all three carry

different products.

1. Lulu Supercenter is the groceries store.

2. Lulu center carries perfumes, jewelry, clothes, bags, shoes, etc

3. Lulu shopping has optics, watches, jewelry, a large assortment of electronics, coolers,

stand fans, utensils, etc.

Lulu too has clearly marked rows and is easy to shop in.

When we asked people to rate the quality easy to shop in; these were the results.

20

24

40

106

Easy to shop in

ExcellentVery GoodGoodFairPoor

Analysis and Recommendations

Lulu

1. Lulu has a lot of weaknesses (refer to SWOT) it has to take care of. People perceive it as

an “Indian” low quality moderately priced store. Therefore, the positioning done by Lulu

has not been very effective. It has to change its positioning so that people perceive it as a

high quality and low price store as Carrefour.

2. Lulu does not have a lot of variety in its products as compared to the huge variety of

Carrefour. Therefore, it should bring more variety to its products by adding more brands

to itself. It can also add more sections or increase the size of its sections. For example,

Lulu lacks a sushi bar and an Arabic sweets bar which Carrefour has.

3. Carrefour clearly wins in the price’s section. Lulu should focus on lowering its prices so

that they are more competitive as compared to Carrefour.

4. Lulu could take a note from Carrefour about product placement as product placement of

Carrefour is much superior. They utilize their entry to display products which are the

most popular in Dubai (electronics) and which have the highest discounts. Lulu does not

utilize its entrance efficiently. Moreover, Carrefour has everything on one floor while

Lulu has separate floors or shops or building for it. This should be improved as people

prefer everything at the same place rather than different places.

5. Lulu should also advertise more vigorously as they have a very poor ad recall of just

40%. Moreover, they are almost non-existent in the most common media i.e. the print.

They should advertise more in the newspapers and could even give away some

redeemable coupons in the newspapers so that the people are attracted to the stores.

6. Lulu should develop its presence on the internet and try and compete with Carrefour’s

webstore which offers online buying and viewing of all items available in Carrefour.

Carrefour

7. Carrefour should focus on other aspects of its store also than just the price. It is the

market leader and can maintain it if it reminds people from time to time that it not only

has lower prices but also superior products.

8. Carrefour on the other hand should consider tapping into the Indian market as it has large

customer base which it can attract. For example, Lulu has a separate freshly prepared

food sections dedicated to Indians while Carrefour has no such facility.

On the Internet

Carrefour

Carrefour has a very clear and informative site regarding its products and promotions, which is

updated regularly. The site categorises the various products of carrefour into different sections,

namely:-

1. Communication and Telephones

2. Computers and IT

3. Consoles Gaming

4. Photo Video

5. TV & Audio

6. Garden and Sports

7. Home Households

8. Beauty & Personal Care

The site has eight sections which further has different subsections so that the customer finds

exactely the products he is searching for. When you choose a sub-section, you also get more

filtering options. For example, if you select PDA mobiles from Comm. & Telephones, you get

filtering options based on:-

1. Price

2. Brand

3. Attributes

Moreover. the page shows relevant promotions to the catergory you are in. For example, in PDA

mobiles you will see promotions for PDA phones. You can also read about the products and

order them online. You can also see the shipping time and the available stock.

Therefore, carrefour covers all the 4 P’s on its website. They have all their products listed, you

can easily see the price of all the products and compare them to other stores. The products are

placed in the most accessible place to potential buyers, the internet. Their promotion is good

where you see what is relevant to you and what is new. The home page shows what products are

available at a discount, clearly indicating the before and after price.

Lulu

Lulu’s site is not as informative as carrefour’s. It has a separate section for its own brands and a

promotions tab but all of its products are not listed on the website. The promotions page just

shows the a catalog with all the products which takes a long time to load and not very appealing.

Even when you go to its own brands microsite you can only see the product with limited product

information and no price or delivery information. In fact, Lulu does not support online buying.

The 4 P’s of marketing are not clearly visible from their website. The website does not inform

about all their products, the prices are not mentioned, promotions are there but they do not

instantly catch your eye and placement on the internet is good but it needs a lot of improvements

on its website if needs to compete with carrefour.

Carrefour Vs Lulu

Marketing Mix- website

Carrefour Lulu

Product All products listed with

relevant information.

All products are not listed,

only own brands microsite

links available.

Price Prices are clearly mebtioned. Prices are not mentioned at all.

Place Internet- website Internet- website

Promotion Promotions relevant with what

you want to buy. They are

clearly visble and appealing.

All promotions in a separate

tab with a scanned catalogue

format. Its cumbersome to

through all of it and not very

appealing.