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Retail & Consumer Goods, Strategy & Analysis Article, Carrefour China
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Lessons from a global retailer: An interview with the president of Carrefour China

  • In this interview, Jean-Luc Chéreau, the head of Carrefour China, discusses the French retailer's experience since opening its first Chinese store, in 1995.
  • Before coming to mainland China, Chéreau spent seven years in Taiwan. He credits that experience with teaching him much about Chinese consumers and ways of doing business.
  • The Carrefour executive also discusses the importance of adapting to local tastes and—particularly as markets spread out from the biggest cities—to local budgets. Networks of Chinese partners and their knowledge of mainland consumers are crucial as well.
  • Chéreau says that when multinational companies explore the Chinese market, their failures often teach them more than their successes.
This article includes the following exhibits:
  • Biography of Carrefour's Jean-Luc Chéreau
  • Exhibit: Since opening its first store in 1995, Carrefour has become the largest foreign retailer in China.
 

This article is part of a McKinsey Quarterly package on the new Chinese consumer. To read the other articles, please select from the following choices:

Building brands in China
China's emerging consumers are rushing to buy name brands but show little loyalty to individual labels. A closer look at these shoppers' behavior suggests ways to counteract their fickleness.

Marketing to China's hinterland
China's smaller cities and towns conceal pockets of prosperity that shouldn't be dismissed lightly.

Understanding China's teen consumers
Teens in China influence the spending of hundreds of billions of renminbi annually, but don't expect them to mirror their counterparts in developed markets.

The value of China's emerging middle class
Faster than many companies expect, a massive middle class could dominate China's urban markets.

Shaping China's home-improvement market: An interview with B&Q's CEO for Asia
This British retailer finds that keeping up with the changing Chinese customer is the biggest challenge.

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