Is Carrefour experiencing food availability problems?
Today, we have no problem with the availability of most of the range. There may be a shortage of individual products on the shelves. We strongly rely on cooperation with Polish local suppliers, which gives us a guarantee of food security.
On the one hand, we are all afraid of deficiencies. On the other hand, about 5 million tons of food is wasted in Poland. Poles have started to do smart shopping to limit waste?
The last two years have seen very big changes in shopping habits. Pandemic, war, inflation, and the energy crisis are depressing consumer sentiment. The financial situation has deteriorated significantly for 60 percent of our customers. They are starting to choose smart shopping. They may not want to give up good quality products, but they are definitely looking for bargains. They carefully plan their purchases before going to the shop. Also, they tend choose a shop that has special offers. We stick to the shopping list. The tendency to stockpile commodities has decreased. We choose smart substitutes for more expensive products and try to eat healthy all the time. Smart shopping is already a clear trend.
The retail industry accounts for 7 percent of wasted food. How is Carrefour countering this?
We have been working for more than a decade to prevent waste. The first campaigns were held in 2013. We started to work with NGOs and donate full-value products that we could not sell. Then, we started to measure the scale of the phenomenon and manage it on a regular basis. Ultimately, we reduced the amount of food wasted in the shop by 54%.
The supply chain is also important. We have changed the way we buy. We are starting to think about small local suppliers. We already have 300 such suppliers in the vicinity of our shops.
