CASE 11 367Italy and Greece. The group also seeks to support local
suppliers, with some 90% to 95% of the products on its
shelves sourced locally, depending on the country.
Faithful to the concept of ‘everything-under-one-roof ’,
Carrefour hypermarkets offer an average surface area of
8400 m^2 filled with a range of between 20 000 and 80 000
food and non-food items, all at attractive prices. With over
1100 hypermarkets in 32 countries, the Carrefour Group is
consolidating its number one global position in this format.
In 2007, expansion accelerated with 123 new hypermarkets,
particularly in Asia, with the building of 36 new hypermarkets,
including 22 in China – where the group broke its record
for store openings in a one-year period. In Europe, 51
new hypermarkets came on board, including the 160th in
Spain and the 71st in Poland following integration of the
15 Ahold Polska hypermarkets. In Latin America, the group
became the number one food retailer in Brazil after
acquiring the 34 Atacadao discount hypermarkets and
inaugurating 62 new hypermarkets. Hypermarkets account
for almost 60% of Carrefour sales and employ more than
300 000 people.
Carrefour supermarkets, with surface areas ranging from
1000 to over 2000 m^2 , offer a range of some 10 000 listings,
most of them food. Rural stores are currently developing a
broader offering of non-food products, such as clothing and
household goods. In 2007, the Carrefour Group opened
326 new supermarkets, mainly in Europe. At year end
2007, the Carrefour Group had 2708 supermarkets in
10 countries, accounting for 23.5% of sales and employing
almost 85 000 people.
Carrefour’s cash & carry stores offer a reduced product
range at discount prices – around 20% lower than major
brands – in surface areas ranging from 200 to 1000 m^2 for
Dia stores with a parking lot. The range mainly comprises
Dia-branded food products plus a small selection of estab-
lished, major brand items. The group’s cash & carry stores
offer a range of quality fresh products at attractive prices.
In France, they offer everything a family needs, with between
1500 and 1800 food listings plus a limited number of essential
personal care and cleaning products. At the end of 2007,
there were 897 discount stores with more than 6000
employees, accounting for almost 10% of sales.
A key element in the group’s multi-format policy is the
convenience stores. They offer a complementary outlet to
urban and rural customers. Each of the group’s convenience
store banners stands out for the way it tailors its offering to
the needs of its customer base. In France, the convenience
stores offer a range of products and services (e.g. home
delivery, dry cleaning, 48-hour photo development, ticket
distribution, photocopying, stamps, newspapers and more).
With surface areas that range between 50 and 900 m^2 ,
convenience stores can be adapted to suit any situation,
from urban sites to the most rural location, where they help
to counteract the trend of disappearing services. Worldwide,Carrefour operates 4800 stores in seven countries, mainly
under franchising agreements.
Carrefour is the largest retailer in Belgium. In 2007, it
operated 626 shops, 57 of which are hypermarkets, 378
supermarkets and 191 Express convenience stores. It employs
15 500 people and has a turnover of €5.27 billion.Music festivals: a large and unserved
audience
As in many other countries, in Belgium during the summer
season there is a music festival nearly every weekend. The
three largest ones are Graspop, Pukkelpop and Rock Werchter.
The first Graspop festival was held in 1986 as a family
music festival with mainly local acts. After ten years, in 1995,
the festival faced a sharply decreasing audience, despite
international top acts such as Joe Cocker and Simple Minds.
The 1993 and 1994 festivals were, however, very successful,
featuring heavy-metal bands such as Motörhead, the
Ramones, Paradise Lost and Biohazard. The management
therefore decided to reposition the festival as an international
open-air metal music festival, the Graspop Metal Meeting,
on the last weekend of June. The first festival in 1996 was a
big success. Ten thousand metal heads enjoyed the music
of 15 bands, featuring Iron Maiden and Type O Negative as
top acts. By 1998, the metal crowd increased to 20 000, a
loyal group of fans that in subsequent years turned out for
top acts such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Agnostic Front,
Slayer, Sepultura and Alice Cooper. The 10th anniversary in
2005 was celebrated with 80 000 visitors, offering a three-
day festival on four different podiums featuring over 60 bands.
In 2007, the festival welcomed 100 000 visitors (calculated
as the sum of all visitors per festival day, or 48 000 ‘unique’
visitors), about 30 000 of whom stayed on the camping
ground. In total, Graspop has featured over 350 bands. It is
one of the major festival events in Belgium.
Pukkelpop is a three-day music festival which celebrated
its 23rd anniversary in 2009. It is internationally renowned
for its focus on alternative, progressive and underground
music. In 2007, 152 000 visitors (77 000 unique) came to
Pukkelpop, to experience more than 210 acts. Fifty thousand
visitors spent the night on the camping ground.
The history of Rock Werchter dates back to 1967, when
a so-called beat happening was organised long before
Woodstock in the USA and the Isle of Wight in the UK. At
its height in 1978, this Jazz Bilzen event, back then a four-day
festival, drew 15 000 festival-goers on its main day. Three
years later, only 6000 people showed up and the festival
stopped. From 1981 the festival was held in two places
(Torhout and Werchter), when about 20 000 and 27 000
spectators showed up. Things really ‘exploded’ in Werchter
in 1982, when about 40 000 people were standing at the
festival gates. In 1998, the festival presented 23 acts. In
2008, there were 60, on two stages. Rock Werchter hasM11_PELS3221_05_SE_C11.indd 367M11_PELS3221_05_SE_C11.indd 367 3/6/13 4:07 PM3/6/13 4:07 PM