Carrefour and Google sign e-commerce partnership

Carrefour, the French supermarket with annual sales of €79bn, has announced a strategic partnership with US technology giant Google as it seeks to reach more customers online. The French retailer said the new partnership would allow consumers in France to buy Carrefour products online via Google platforms from 2019.

The partnership is Carrefour’s latest move into the world of e-commerce, having largely lagged behind its competitors up to now. In May, Carrefour announced a partnership with Chinese tech giant Tencent to open a new-high tech supermarket in Shanghai, where customers can pay via face recognition.

Alexandre Bompard, who was appointed chief executive of Carrefour in July 2017, has made e-commerce a priority for the retail giant, with plans to invest €2.8bn in online by 2022.

“Six months ago we were isolated. All the retail alliances were taking place without us. Now we have deals with Tencent and Google,” Bompard told investors at the company’s AGM. Bompard said Carrefour’s expansion into e-commerce was an “absolute priority” if the retailer was to avoid significant disruption from new competitors such as Amazon.

In March this year, Amazon announced a partnership with upmarket French chain Monoprix – the first move by the US giant into European grocery retail.

As part of the deal with Google, Carrefour will open an innovation lab in Paris this summer in collaboration with Google Cloud to work on developing new services based on artificial intelligence. Google will also help train 1,000 Carrefour employees in new technologies.

Read More

Long read: supermarkets quit the space race as Amazon takes aim