Through the wealth life

Chapter 547 Carrefour

While Li Guangyu was having a meeting at Wheelock Group, Henry Keswick was in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel having discussions with Victor Bill, President of Carrefour Asia.

Although the Jardine Matheson Group is about to withdraw from the Xiangjiang retail market, Henry Keswick still hopes to cause some troubles for the Lee Consortium. After some screening, Carrefour Group has become the target he is looking for.

At this time, Henry Keswick didn't care about Carrefour, which was a French company, as long as he could pull in to distract the Li's consortium.

And the reason why he is looking for Carrefour Group and plans to transfer Wellcome Supermarket to them is mainly because Carrefour's opening up the Asian market is not going well.

In Japan, Carrefour is faced with the joint crowding out of two major groups, Hengyu Supermarket and Ito-Yokado, making it quite difficult for them to develop there.

However, when a supermarket was tentatively opened in the Baodao area, it was immediately suppressed by Hengyu Supermarket and Uni-President Group, which made Victor Bill, the president of Asian affairs, quite uncomfortable.

As the largest retail supermarket group in Western Europe, when Victor Beer was the president of Asian affairs, he had great ambitions in his heart. He didn't think there would be a supermarket group in Asia comparable to Carrefour.

In the eyes of Carrefour executives, they have only one opponent, and that is the Wal-Mart Group in the United States, and other supermarket retail groups are simply ignored by them.

But when entering the Japanese market, the first stop in Asia, Carrefour Supermarket received a blow.Faced with the attack from Hengyu Supermarket Group and Ito-Yokado, Victor Bill realized that Carrefour had no advantage.

Over the past six months, Carrefour has successively opened five branches in Tokyo, Daban and other places, but up to now none of them have achieved the desired effect. Facing the siege of Hengyu Supermarket Group and Ito-Yokado, Several Carrefour supermarkets can't get any profit at all.

The one that Baodao opened in the first two months was even worse. Facing discount sales from Hengyu Supermarket Group and Uni-President Group around this supermarket, it couldn't attract much popularity at all.

Victor Bill didn't dare to fight that kind of price war with them, and he himself had some understanding of what happened in Xiangjiang. Victor Bill felt a deep chill for Hengyu Supermarket Group's extreme approach.

Their Carrefour came to open up the market to make money, not to lose money and make money.

This time he came to meet Henry Keswick without the intention of acquiring Wellcome Supermarket, and he himself did not have such power.

He just communicated with him this time, and sorted out the situation here, especially after learning some information about Hengyu Supermarket and the Li's Consortium behind it, and then reported to the headquarters.

And Henry Keswick, as the chairman of the Jardine Group, has been fighting against the Lee Consortium for many years. Victor Bill believes that he knows more about the Hengyu Supermarket Group and the Lee Consortium than he himself.

Carrefour's current development in Western Europe has almost reached its peak. If the group wants to continue to grow, it must open up new markets.Forget about North America, Wal-Mart is not so easy to deal with.

At present, the Asian economy is in a period of rapid development, and the living standards of citizens in many countries and regions have improved significantly, and the population here is much larger than that of Western Europe. Carrefour is absolutely unwilling to give up the Asian market easily.

As the president of affairs in the Asian region, Victor Bill knew who his biggest opponent was. If he could not overcome this mountain, it would be very difficult for Carrefour to gain a foothold in the Asian region.

This time he came to Xiangjiang, not only to discuss Wellcome with Henry Keswick, but also to put Carrefour’s Asian headquarters here. In the future, he will also be stationed in Xiangjiang and lead Carrefour to expand in various regions of Asia. .

After listening to Henry Keswick's explanation about the situation of the Lee Consortium, especially the relationship between the Lee Consortium in Xiangjiang, Victor Bill was full of worries about whether Carrefour could gain a foothold in Asia in the future.

What Carrefour is facing this time is no longer just the competition of a supermarket group, but also involves the behemoth Li's consortium, and related interest groups surrounding the Li's consortium.

At least in Xiangjiang, he does not see any capital that Carrefour has to compete with Hengyu Supermarket Group, which also makes Carrefour basically miss the Xiangjiang market.

Victor Bill said: "Keswick, I can't make a decision about the acquisition of Wellcome Supermarket. I will report the situation here to the headquarters truthfully and ask them to make a decision on it. But you still don't have any doubts about it. Too much hope, I think the headquarters is not willing to start a price war between Xiangjiang and Hengyu Supermarket Group at this time, which will not be of great benefit to Carrefour.”

Henry Keswick said: "Bill, you Carrefour don't want to just go back home like this. Your group's market in Western Europe has gradually become saturated. The Asian market will be your new growth stage. You are in Japan and Taiwan. The market is not very ideal, and the main problem lies with the Lee Consortium. As long as you share the shares with the Li Consortium in Xiangjiang, the market in other regions will no longer be a problem."

Victor Bill is not stupid, this matter is easy to say, but it is too difficult for Xiangjiang to tie with the Li Consortium, unless Carrefour does not care about losing hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars every month, and the Li Consortium consume.

But this is obviously impossible. Their Carrefour is not Hengyu Supermarket Group. They need to be responsible for the interests of all shareholders. Li Guangyu can ignore such losses, but their Carrefour cannot.

Victor Bill said: "Keswick, you are also aware of the current situation in the retail market here in Xiangjiang. Your Wellcome is basically out of business now. Hengyu Supermarket Group and Watsons have formed a monopoly on this. We, Carrefour, also come in. It will only damage the army, and it doesn’t make much sense at all. At this time, our Carrefour might as well compete with the Li’s consortium in some emerging markets.”

Henry Keswick also knew that it was quite difficult to find someone to take over Wellcome Supermarket, but he still had to try.

If someone takes over the offer, it will not only cause trouble for Li's consortium, but also benefit Jardine.These supermarket stores all belong to Jardine Land. At this time, so many stores are vacant, which is also a huge loss to Jardine.

Henry Keswick said: "Bill, you have to know that the reason why so many international companies' Asian headquarters are located in Xiangjiang is mainly to use this as a springboard to enter the mainland market. You must know that there are 12 billion people there. Could it be that your Carrefour I won’t be moved by this. If you don’t have any influence in Xiangjiang, it will not be so easy to enter the mainland in the future.”

The reason why Victor Bill put his Asian headquarters in Xiangjiang this time is to prepare for entering the mainland market. Carrefour will not turn a blind eye to such a huge market.

Especially since the reform and opening up in mainland China, the economy there has been developing at a high speed. He believes that with the deepening of reform and opening up, Carrefour will be able to enter the mainland market.And establishing a foothold in Xiangjiang in advance can provide better help for Carrefour to enter the mainland in the future.

……

(End of this chapter)