Hypermarches in France
Apr 2nd, 2007, 12:19 AM
#62
(I was replying to TommieG when hanl sneaked in.)
You are probably right, hanl -- and definitely so as concerns Ikea in Alsace-Moselle, a region which still suffers from the German religious laws. But the whole Ikea Sunday battle was fought over stores that were already open on Sunday in the Paris metropolitan area, and Ikea won.
You are probably right, hanl -- and definitely so as concerns Ikea in Alsace-Moselle, a region which still suffers from the German religious laws. But the whole Ikea Sunday battle was fought over stores that were already open on Sunday in the Paris metropolitan area, and Ikea won.
Apr 2nd, 2007, 12:37 AM
#63
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Kerouac, I only know about Ikea being closed on Sundays in some parts because when we moved to Lyon from Paris, I planned to buy a whole load of furniture from there, got up early on a Sunday morning to beat the crowds, drove all the way out there... and it was shut. Grr.
Apr 2nd, 2007, 12:50 AM
#64
It's closed on Sunday because you people in the provinces spend all day Saturday at the hypermarket in order to spend all day Sunday sitting at the table stuffing yourselves at those family feasts! 
Apr 2nd, 2007, 05:07 AM
#67
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What Google can't do; I foudn out what PBase is...... www.pbase.com.....
Apr 2nd, 2007, 05:13 AM
#68
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A little Wikipedia on shopping carts:
'Shopping carts are fitted with four caster wheels, which can point in any direction to allow "easy" maneuvering. However, when any one of the wheels jams, the cart becomes extremely difficult to handle. Note that some carts only have swivel caster wheels on the front, while the rear ones are locked. This presumably improves the steering life of the cart, at the expense of maneuverability.'
Now I am relly stating to doubt myself.....do shopping carts in the Netherlands use the 2 or 4 wheel-swivel-system...... I honestly don't knwo anymore......can't wait to go shopping again!
'Shopping carts are fitted with four caster wheels, which can point in any direction to allow "easy" maneuvering. However, when any one of the wheels jams, the cart becomes extremely difficult to handle. Note that some carts only have swivel caster wheels on the front, while the rear ones are locked. This presumably improves the steering life of the cart, at the expense of maneuverability.'
Now I am relly stating to doubt myself.....do shopping carts in the Netherlands use the 2 or 4 wheel-swivel-system...... I honestly don't knwo anymore......can't wait to go shopping again!
Apr 2nd, 2007, 05:34 AM
#69
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The FWSSC doesn't let me go; is this a picture of one: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afbeelding:Winkelwagen.jpg
Then I think that in the Netherlands we also use the four-way-swivel (because it is a Dutch picture).....
Besides the odd jammed wheel, I can't say it bothered me...... But now I probably can't stop thinking about it and the next time in the supermarket it will probably go wrong!
Then I think that in the Netherlands we also use the four-way-swivel (because it is a Dutch picture).....
Besides the odd jammed wheel, I can't say it bothered me...... But now I probably can't stop thinking about it and the next time in the supermarket it will probably go wrong!
Apr 2nd, 2007, 05:55 AM
#70
Apr 2nd, 2007, 11:41 AM
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TommieG ... thanks for finding that picture. You can clearly see that the rear wheels swivel in the same manner as the front wheels. Now all we need to do is find one with a Leclerc or Carrefour label on it.
I think the fellow who designed that cart goes to the grocery store on weekends and laughs his head off at people trying to steer one of those things around a corner.
Anselm
I think the fellow who designed that cart goes to the grocery store on weekends and laughs his head off at people trying to steer one of those things around a corner.
Anselm
Apr 2nd, 2007, 12:15 PM
#74
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Speaking of shopping carts...
for years now Carrefour and French hypermarches and those in other many other countries have required you to put some coins in a thing on the cart to disengage it from the rack and when you bring it back you get the coins back.
Wonder why cost-cutting American hypermarches haven't turned to that simply device to cut down on cart loss and cart retrieval.
My local supermarket says they lose a whole lot of expensive carts and have to pay someone to retrieve ones folks take to their apartments, etc.
This seems like a no-brainer to me but of course all supermarkets would have to do it ensemble for it to work i guess or the first ones doing it would no doubt lose market share.
for years now Carrefour and French hypermarches and those in other many other countries have required you to put some coins in a thing on the cart to disengage it from the rack and when you bring it back you get the coins back.
Wonder why cost-cutting American hypermarches haven't turned to that simply device to cut down on cart loss and cart retrieval.
My local supermarket says they lose a whole lot of expensive carts and have to pay someone to retrieve ones folks take to their apartments, etc.
This seems like a no-brainer to me but of course all supermarkets would have to do it ensemble for it to work i guess or the first ones doing it would no doubt lose market share.
Apr 2nd, 2007, 12:36 PM
#75
That's what I've always read -- that they would lose market share.
The latest shopping cart models in France have an electronic device that locks the wheels if you cross a painted line at the edge of the parking lot. Apparently, shopping carts are a lot more expensive than they look (well, maybe not those gray plastic Wal-Mart models), and it is an investment well spent.
The latest shopping cart models in France have an electronic device that locks the wheels if you cross a painted line at the edge of the parking lot. Apparently, shopping carts are a lot more expensive than they look (well, maybe not those gray plastic Wal-Mart models), and it is an investment well spent.
Apr 3rd, 2007, 03:19 AM
#77
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>My guess is that French people are just more likely to steal them, making more advanced protections necessary.<
Don't know if that's true. Especially if you read what PalenQ says:
>My local supermarket says they lose a whole lot of expensive carts and have to pay someone to retrieve ones folks take to their apartments, etc.<
So it seems to happen outside of France also.....
In the Netherlands (and Germany, Belgium etc) almost all the shopping carts also use a 50 cents or 1 euro coin before you can disengage them. Only in very quit areas with small supermarkets you still see cart without coins.
My guess is that you see it a lot in Europe, because here we have a lot of supermarkets in more residential areas (although hypermarches are the execption to the rule....). Whereas in the States a lot of supermarkets are located on the outskirts of towns (although there are execptions there too...). People are more likely to take
a shopping cart with them, if they live near a supermarket.
Don't know if that's true. Especially if you read what PalenQ says:
>My local supermarket says they lose a whole lot of expensive carts and have to pay someone to retrieve ones folks take to their apartments, etc.<
So it seems to happen outside of France also.....
In the Netherlands (and Germany, Belgium etc) almost all the shopping carts also use a 50 cents or 1 euro coin before you can disengage them. Only in very quit areas with small supermarkets you still see cart without coins.
My guess is that you see it a lot in Europe, because here we have a lot of supermarkets in more residential areas (although hypermarches are the execption to the rule....). Whereas in the States a lot of supermarkets are located on the outskirts of towns (although there are execptions there too...). People are more likely to take
a shopping cart with them, if they live near a supermarket.
Apr 3rd, 2007, 04:31 AM
#78
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"WalMart is always listed first and Carrefour 2nd. May have been different few years ago as i believe WalMart is expanding much more than Carrefour."
Wal-Mart's "expansion" is entirely in one country, while it's running away from practically everywhere outside Greater America. It gave up Korea and Germany last year, it's fouling up in Japan and it's lost share in the UK since acquiring a competently run business, Asda. For which it blames the "unfair" behaviour of the local market leader (which invested in new sites), and has had the effrontery to ask the UK government to bend the rules so that inept foreigners might find it easier to compete without going to the expense of paying the market price for new locations.
Carrefour's ahead of Wal-Mart in China and Brazil (though in both countries, Carrefour is far smaller than the market leaders), the only serious countries where both operate. Carrefour's growth in China in 2006 was twice as fast as the Bentonville Buffoon's
All of which said, Wal-Mart's not only ahead of Carrefour in sales, but actually had sales greater than the other four mega retailers (Tesco, Carrefour, Metro and Ito-Yokado) combined.
However, practically all Wal-Mart's sales were in one country: its performance everywhere else has been embarassingly bad. Time after time, when entering a new country, it's just shown itself incapable of understanding how to operate - or, in the case of the one country it's at least survived in (the UK), of keeping decent staff or dealing with grown-up competitors without whining about conspiracy theories.
The other three (Tesco, Carrefour and Metro), by contrast, have shown extraordinary sensitivity in understanding new markets and adapting their operations to local peculiarities.
Which the Arkansas Amateurs have shown not the slightest hint of even recognising as a problem. They even blamed their German screwup on German consumers' bizarre lack of interest in having groceries bagged.
That's the trouble with foreign parts. Damn customers don't know how to behave. Can't possibly be the fault of third-rate management, can it?
Wal-Mart's "expansion" is entirely in one country, while it's running away from practically everywhere outside Greater America. It gave up Korea and Germany last year, it's fouling up in Japan and it's lost share in the UK since acquiring a competently run business, Asda. For which it blames the "unfair" behaviour of the local market leader (which invested in new sites), and has had the effrontery to ask the UK government to bend the rules so that inept foreigners might find it easier to compete without going to the expense of paying the market price for new locations.
Carrefour's ahead of Wal-Mart in China and Brazil (though in both countries, Carrefour is far smaller than the market leaders), the only serious countries where both operate. Carrefour's growth in China in 2006 was twice as fast as the Bentonville Buffoon's
All of which said, Wal-Mart's not only ahead of Carrefour in sales, but actually had sales greater than the other four mega retailers (Tesco, Carrefour, Metro and Ito-Yokado) combined.
However, practically all Wal-Mart's sales were in one country: its performance everywhere else has been embarassingly bad. Time after time, when entering a new country, it's just shown itself incapable of understanding how to operate - or, in the case of the one country it's at least survived in (the UK), of keeping decent staff or dealing with grown-up competitors without whining about conspiracy theories.
The other three (Tesco, Carrefour and Metro), by contrast, have shown extraordinary sensitivity in understanding new markets and adapting their operations to local peculiarities.
Which the Arkansas Amateurs have shown not the slightest hint of even recognising as a problem. They even blamed their German screwup on German consumers' bizarre lack of interest in having groceries bagged.
That's the trouble with foreign parts. Damn customers don't know how to behave. Can't possibly be the fault of third-rate management, can it?
Apr 3rd, 2007, 04:56 AM
#79
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So, which is better, Carrefour or Auchan? I have a holiday home in Southern Italy and I use the local Auchan frequently. I've just heard they're opening a new Carrefour down the road. Should I switch allegiances?
Apr 3rd, 2007, 05:15 AM
#80
Frankly, I find them of equal quality. Auchan is perhaps slightly faster at copying new brand name products to create Auchan products, although Carrefour did surprise me with its own litchi-apple soy milk recently, meaning it is willing to start branding some pretty marginal items.
In terms of adapting to local markets, which flanneruk was talking about, I remember reading about 2 major Carrefour adaptations in China, which one does not necessarily spontaneously think of. 1. They learned that all fish must be sold live out of aquariums. The Chinese customers would not buy fish dead on ice. 2. They had to quintuple the size and selection of men's hair dye, as it turns out that Chinese men dye their hair constantly. Nobody outside of the country knew that before.
In terms of adapting to local markets, which flanneruk was talking about, I remember reading about 2 major Carrefour adaptations in China, which one does not necessarily spontaneously think of. 1. They learned that all fish must be sold live out of aquariums. The Chinese customers would not buy fish dead on ice. 2. They had to quintuple the size and selection of men's hair dye, as it turns out that Chinese men dye their hair constantly. Nobody outside of the country knew that before.
