Starting 24 September 2013, celebrations will be held in Carrefour stores across France to mark 50 years since the first hypermarket opened in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.
The retailer will offer a number of special offers, surprises and festivities in all Carrefour stores. Carrefour will also be inviting Internet users to put forward their ideas of what the hypermarket of the future will look like, and to vote for one of the many humanitarian aid projects that the stores support.
These include food bank projects, supporting cooperative grocery stores and organising the purchase of a refrigerated lorry for such initiatives. Information about these 221 projects will be put online at www.carrefour.fr from 2 October and internet users will then be able to vote for the 50 projects that they think are the most worthwhile.
The charity association that gets the highest number of votes will get – thanks to the support of the Carrefour Corporate Foundation – €50,000 to help finance its project.
The retailer will also be asking web users to imagine what the hypermarket of the future will be like, under six themes: 'Eat Well', 'The Environment', 'Children', 'Make Shopping Easier', 'Rewarding Your Loyalty', 'Right Now In Store'. Carrefour's teams will carry out feasibility studies into the ideas that get the most votes on the website. If the results prove promising, the retailer will actually implement the idea.'By sharing their ideas, customers and Internet users will be able to play a part in creating the store of the future', Carrefour said.
The retailer added, 'Everybody is invited to come and enjoy a piece of birthday cake, baked by Carrefour's pastry chefs, in their stores on 16 October. We look forward to seeing everyone at 5 PM to celebrate Carrefour's 50th birthday and share a fun moment together'.
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Ellen Lunney
