Price firm: Carrefour exports its Argentine anti-inflation formula

To cope with accelerating inflation in France, Carrefour announced this week which will freeze the prices of 100 own-brand products in the country of origin for 100 days. The measure covers basic consumer products (fresh, drinks, snacks, jams, frozen foods, tea, coffee, hygiene and cleaning) and also various categories of libraries, such as notebooks, pencils and highlighters. In July, the cost of living in France rose to 6.1% year-on-year, the highest level since 1985. The mood of the people is on the ground.

It’s a model inspired by the Courageous Prices promotion, which in Argentina is in its 5th edition and which has fixed the prices of 1,500 products identified with the brands of the chain until the end of the year. Carrefour thus exploits the experience accumulated in the country to exploit inflationary and unstable scenarios. The program “100 fixed price products for 100 days” seeks to “preserve the purchasing power of the French,” the company said.

It is a functional slogan for the government of that European country. President Emmanuel Macron had already warned days ago about the possible sacrifices that French society would have to face a context marked by the consequences of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused the sharp rise in food and energy prices. Thus, Carrefour decided to replicate the sales strategy it designed in Argentina, not just France.

On November 4 last year he did the same in Brazil, a country that is also facing an unusual price increase due to the rise in the dollar. The chain has decided to freeze the prices of around 4,000 products for 3 months, all of their own brand. In Brazil, Carrefour has 876 stores and 137,000 employees and more than 600 stores in Argentina. The largest operation is in France, where it has 5,381 stores and leads the sector. In 2021 it had a worldwide turnover of 81,000 million euros, according to data from the Bloomberg agency.

Exporting Carrefour’s price freeze model is no coincidence. The chain’s current CEOs in France (Rami Baitieh) and Brazil (Stéphane Maquaire) held the same position in Argentina. Baitieh was between 2018 and 2019 and was replaced by Maquaire, who was until the middle of last year.