The distributor Carrefour will launch its own “anti-inflation basket” in mid-March, made up of 200 products sold at an average of two euros and “at locked prices” until mid-June, announces its general director Alexandre Bompard in an interview with Sunday newspaper.
These are 100 “everyday” products (clothing, diapers, spreads, flour, biscuits, etc.) and another 100 labeled “healthy” (yogurt, eggs, fresh vegetables, bread, milk or cereals) with a Nutri- Score A and B, marketed under the Carrefour and Simpl brands, which will be sold “at a block price, from March 15 to June 15,” the newspaper specifies.
The group will launch this “essential and nutritional” basket – the composition of which was chosen during round tables with the brand’s customers – on the shelves of its 5,945 French stores in ten days, it continues.
A uniform basket with all the abandoned signs?
This follows the abandonment of the “project for a uniform basket common to all brands”, mentioned in December by the Minister for SMEs Olivia Grégoire, “but since then rejected by the majority of distributors”, writes the JDD.
“We have found a very good agreement with the minister” of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, Alexandre Bompard, executive director of the group, told the newspaper. “He decided to leave each one the freedom to define the operations of his choice.” “It was essential that all the actors could commit themselves at the same time, but with full autonomy of action. The result will be even more powerful, ”he says.
A year ago, Carrefour had already launched a basket of 15 fruits and vegetables sold for less than 1 euro, which gave “very good results”, according to Alexandre Bompard.
This ad comes as The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, announced this Saturday in RMC that an announcement must be made within two weeks for global aid to the French in the face of food inflation.. Mention was then made, among other things, of the anti-inflation basket.
Double-digit inflation through this summer
“The end of the negotiations with the manufacturers suggests a further increase (in prices). This is a new violent shock for the most fragile homes,” he said. “The level of inflation for food will remain in double digits until this summer, probably above what is currently reached,” adds the CEO of Carrefour.
This offer represents an investment effort of “several tens of millions of euros”, according to Alexandre Bompard.
At the beginning of February, the competitor System U announced that it was launching its basket of “150 products at cost price”, for an “indefinite period”.
Since inflation has returned to occupy the first place of the concerns of the French, the distribution has multiplied operations, blocked prices, anti-inflation shield, whose objective is to attract or retain customers, in the face of food inflation that has escalated by 14.5 % annual in February, according to INSEE.
Source: BFM TV
