In Belgium, the chain of Carrefour supermarkets is in trouble.  Fourteen out of fifty six supermarkets are to be closed down due to miserable financial results (if you read French, check out this article in Le Soir) which will result in major layoffs of staff.

The mentioned article in Le Soir, as well as this very insightful blog post, suggest that one of the main reasons for the problems Carrefour is experiencing on the Belgian market is unclear brand positioning.

I fully agree with this. According to the blog post on Caelum Novum, the Carrefour brand has lost (or perhaps never even had from the beginning) the “French spirit” behind it. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that Carrefour has entered the Belgian market by acquiring a Belgian chain GB, and didn’t tap into the French gastronomic tradition at all. It is possible that in the minds of consumers, it still has the “aura” of GB — not even the rather unglamorous interior has changed that much since the name changed to Carrefour.

Some international brands choose the so called “glocal” (global but local) strategy when they launch their presence in new markets. But there should always be the right balance between how much of the “local” needs to be infused into the brand and how much of the original heritage should remain alive. It seems like Carrefour should at least bring in some more of the French gastronomic heritage into its brand, among a long list of other things, to make its revival possible on the Belgian market.

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