Alexandre de Palmas has been named the new executive director of Carrefour France's convenience-store division, according to French trade publication LSA.
He will replace Christophe Rabatel, who recently took over Carrefour Poland operations.
The new convenience director will report directly to Pascal Clouzard, who has been the executive director for Carrefour France operations since October 2017.
de Palmas will also take a place on the executive group committee, established by Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard.
A Retail Veteran
de Palmas is a retail veteran and has held many top portfolios in the industry. He was the director for development of Casino for three years and the executive director of Elior, a French multinational commercial catering and foodservice company.
His experience at Elior could prove to be very valuable for Carrefour's convenience operations. While in-store convenience concepts are common in other countries, such as the UK, the format has only recently been introduced to the French retail sector.
Carrefour aims to invest in food-to-go and seated restaurants in France, similar to its gourmet store concept in Spain.
Other players, such as Monoprix, have been adept at integrating chain restaurants, like Sushi Shop, in some of their stores.
According to LSA, Carrefour's on-the-go format, Carrefour Bon'App, has not performed to the group's expectations.
Convenience stores still remain a moneymaker for Carrefour, with the retailer gaining on its closest rival, Leclerc, according to a recent Kantar Worldpanel report.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Matthieu Chassain. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
