16 July, 2008 - The Columbian subsidiary of Carrefour has announced a US$300 million investment boost this year in a bid to increase its store numbers in the country by almost 30%.
Carrefour’s Columbian Chief Executive Frank Pierre unveiled plans to increase its supermarkets from 47 to 61 by the end of the year. Part of the strategy will be to expand into smaller cities, he confirmed this week.
"We will be present in almost all the cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, and later we plan to expand in smaller cities and towns," he said.
Carrefour has experienced strong growth since it launched its first outlet in Columbia ten years ago. Its year-on-year 2008 sales so far have increased 21% to EUR582 million.
Carrefour Columbia’s chief said he hopes the unit will break even by the end of 2010 and could try to expand buy taking over smaller rivals.