INTERVIEW - France's Carrefour Aims To Become Top Retailer in Bulgaria in Medium Term

“I can certainly say that Bulgaria’s market is not mature and saturated enough in view of well-developed and modern retail and that with the opening of our first hypermarket in February 2009 Careffour will become the undisputed leader,” Antoine told SeeNews in a written interview.

A year ago Carrefour announced plans to invest at least 200 million euro ($256.4 million) in opening 20 hypermarkets in the European Union newcomer in the next five to seven years, targeting a 20% market share.

“Nothing has changed, we just learn more about the potential of the Bulgarian market in the course of time and we aim to open as many stores as possible,” said Antoine.

The company plans to open two stores in 2009 and a further seven in 2010, targeting 30-35 stores of different formats to fit settlements of various sizes in the medium term. This compares to 19 existing hypermarkets of German food retailer Kaufland, which also has unveiled plans to become the leader on the Bulgarian market in several years, with a target to cover all former regional centres in the country, or around 30 cities.

The international financial turmoil has not affected Carrefour’s plans for Bulgaria, because financing for all projects has been secured, Antoine told Sofia-based Pari daily last month.

“We see no change in our plans for the next two years,” he told SeeNews.

Carrefour's first units will be hypermarkets of 8,000 square metres that will cover the key cities in Bulgaria. The chain will open 5,000-square metre hypermarkets at a later stage in smaller cities and expand with a network of 2,000-square metre units in towns.

Antoine declined to quote an average price per unit, saying that the company buys or leases land and premises for its stores according to each specific case.

Carrefour will promote new concepts of retail in Bulgaria on twice as large an area per unit as the biggest existing hypermarkets in Bulgaria, Antoine told Pari. It will offer a portfolio of food products more than triple the largest currently existing in the country, and will expand the non-food segment.

The group targets simultaneously to change customer behaviour via new marketing concepts and attract clients with what it said would be the lowest prices in the country, which will come thanks to the group’s huge European distribution network.

“Nothing can stand in the way of the development and growth of modern retail in Bulgaria, a process that has already started,” said Antoine.

Carrefour will compete in the country of 7.6 million people with Germany's Kaufland, Metro Cash & Carry and HIT, Lithuania's VP Market and smaller Bulgarian players like Fantastiko, Oazis and Piccadilly. No data is available on the market share of those retailers.

“The key difference between Bulgaria and the neighbouring countries is that most of our European rivals are not yet present here,” said Antoine without elaborating.