French retail giant Carrefour has started to turn the corner at home, with market share figures showing that the business is on the up.
The international chain has struggled with its French hypermarket business. Last month's second-quarter figures showed that average spend had dropped at its big stores as the retailer invested in price, but the number of transactions had not increased and like-for-like sales were negative.
However, the retailer's move to EDLP looks as if it is paying off. Market share figures from Secodip, highlighted in a note from Deutsche Bank, showed that the hypermarket business has 'regained market share in food' for June 14 to July 11.
Carrefour's French hypermarket share has increased by 0.3 percentage points to 13.1 per cent, compared with the equivalent period last year.
The retailer introduced the discount No 1 brand last year, doubling the range's size to 1,000 products by the beginning of this year. The tactic was to ensure Carrefour was 3 to 5 per cent cheaper than hard discounters such as Aldi. Carrefour also cut prices on 6,000 lines in March.
Carrefour's supermarket business Champion has also delivered strong growth.
Its share increased by 0.7 percentage points to 8.5 per cent for the period.
Deutsche Bank said: 'Carrefour is clearly heading in the right direction and we feel that the group will be able to regain some market share in the coming quarters.'
Carrefour's French rivals Casino and Intermarche both lost market share.
Casino's hypermarket business and Intermarche lost 0.6 percentage points each, to leave them at 3.8 per cent and 10.8 per cent respectively.
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