Carrefour's Customer Service Approaches

Much of today's focus on service excellence is on customer service training. Equally important is the ned for innovative ideas that look beyond service training to improve customers' shopping experience. Carrefour's service initiatives demonstrate their active pursuit of innovative solutions to enhance their service.

One of the hypermarket's initiates is the retail industry's first "Queue Busters" that consist of mobile teams that scan and pack customers' purchases to speed up the payment process. Using wireless technology, the new system saves up to 25% of customers' time spent in queues.

Another first in the industry is Carrefour's new electronic shelf label system (ESL). With constant new promotions in the grocery section, the system ensures consistent prices reflected on the shelves and at the cashier, and minimizes human errors during price updates. Also, staff who were previously handling the labelling manually can now spend more time at the sales floor, attending to customers.

Carrefour has even introduced a complimentary internet service at its customer service counter to cater to male customers who tend to wait outside the store while their spouses shop. Other thoughtful touches include a wash basin placed beside the fresh fish section, so that customers can easily wash their hands after hand-picking fish and meat; and handphone charging services for those on the move.

The hypermarket's innovative approach to service does not stop with its customers. A point-based incentive programme "Pat on the Back" is used to develop service champions and reward staff who have demonstrated great service. The points can be accumulated and exchanged for couple or family rewards.

Carrefour's incentive programmes and monthly competitions for the staff boast attractive rewards - luxury hotel and yacht club stays, restaurant vouchers and limousine service to motivate and develop service champions among the staff. 

Incentives for good service quality need not always be monetary. Carrefour's 'Pat On The Back' programme awards Certificates of Appreciation to those who exhibit good customer service. They are promoted as role models in the organization. These intangibles are equally gratifying to the service staff. It was believed that when they feel they are sincerely being appreciated, it drives them to be more passionate about their work and in turn more able to deliver good service truly from their hearts. 

To ensure that these initiatives add up, Carrefour's bi-annual customer surveys -Service Radar - measure their performance on key service indicators in comparison with their competitors. Areas of strengths and weaknesses in service reflected in the survey are immediately identified and worked upon. 

A multi-agency working committee led by SPRING Singapore and NTUC, with representatives from Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and the unions (SMMWU, SISEU and FDAWU1), spearheads the CCI. Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Retailers Association also support the initiative. The CCI is part of the Go-the-Extra-Mile for Service (GEMS) movement to transform Singapore's service quality in the retail sector.

Tutorial 8 Sharing (E-learning)

The Professional Skills Programme, aka PSP, was launched by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Workforce Development Agency (WDA). This scheme is targeted to help the professionals, managers, executives and technicians (aka PMETs).

Prior to PSP, all other skill upgrading programmes are designed for conversion from one profession to another. There was no programmes for upgrading within the same profession. Therefore, with the introduction of PSP, the government is able to upgrade people in the same industry.

PSP also comes under Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (aka SPUR) which is an enhanced funding support scheme developed by WDA in consultation with the tripartite partners which includes the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF).

SPUR encourages companies affected by declining business to retain workers by sending them for training, as opposed to retrenching them. This will help employers to save on manpower costs, better manage their excess manpower during the downturn and at the same time, upgrade their workers to strengthen business competitiveness for the upturn.

For the employees, SPUR aims to redeploy unemployed workers as well as help in-employment workers to up-skill for new and better jobs. Employed and unemployed workers no longer need to wait for their employers to send them for training, as they can now sign up for training at CET Centres directly.


Professional Skills Programme in Singapore

Upon graduation from PSP, PEMTs will receive recognised tertiary qualification certificates from their training institutes and the new scheme is expected to motivate PMETs to improve and stay competitive.

Website: WDA: PSP

Tutorial 8 Sharing (Question 3)

Explain how changing demographics of the workforce in Singapore are changing. How does the change affect staff and recruiting efforts for retail sales and management positions for retailing organisation in Singapore?

In Singapore, we are experiencing an aging population as seen from the graph extracted from SingStat:
Sources: Statistic Singapore- Key Annual Indicator

This means that we are having more mature workers in the working industry. Building on this trend, the government is planning to raise retirement age from 62 to 67. The union is also helping mature workers to remain competitive by providing them subsidised training and upgrading courses.

Having said all these, the change in the demographic will therefore result in more companies to offer re–employment opportunities to those who are nearing the retirement age.

In this case, they save not only on the re-training cost but also tap on the experience of its experienced workers to guide the new entrants. An example is SBS Transit as follows:click here

Carrefour's Retail Store Strategy

The strategy of Carrefour is aimed at achieving organic, sustained, profitable growth in excess of the broad market growth rate. Carrefour had based their strategy on the 3 elements in Retail Store Strategy as follows:
~Target Market
~Retail Format
~Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Target Market
Carrefour, being an international retailer, segments its target market geographically. France is Carrefour's established home market and the group's main priority. The Group is taking the initiative to regain its leadership in France. The objective is to generate growth, firstly by developing its multi-format model, increasing convergence and giving fresh impetus to hard discount formats, and secondly by enhancing sales growth, price competitiveness and its price image.
The Carrefour group's second priority consists of Spain, Italy and Belgium which, together with France, make up Carrefour's "G4" countries. In these mature European countries, appropriate measures will be taken to maintain growth (Spain) or improve performance (Belgium and Italy).
Growth markets represent the Carrefour group's third priority. The Group will focus most of its development resources on countries with stronger growth potential, mainly the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The Group's development in these regions will be based on various formats aimed at building the customer base (hypermarkets, cash and carry).

Retail Format
Carrefour owns many retail formats and brands under its group brand: GroupeCarrefour (Carrefour SA). They have presence in retail formats like: Hypermarkets, Supermarkets, Hard discount stores, Convenience stores and Cash & Carry.
Some of GroupeCarrefour's brand are:
Hypermarket format: Carrefour, Atacadão, Hyperstar
Supermarket format: Carrefour Bairro, Carrefour Express, Carrefour Market (Formerly Champion as of 2008), Champion Mapinomovaoe, Globi, GB Supermarkets, GS, Carrefour mini, Gima
Hard discount stores format: Dia, Ed, Minipreço
Convenience stores format: 5 minutes, 8 a HuiT, Marche Plus, Proxi (supermarket), Sherpa, Dìperdì, Smile Market, Ok!, Contact GB, GB Express, Shopi (supermarket)
Cash & Carry format: Promocash, Docks Market, Gross IPer.



Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Client-oriented culture: getting to know their customers better in order to serve them better
With 19.5 million loyalty card-holders in France and Spain, GroupeCarrefour has an excellent base from which to forge closer relationships with customers. As a multi-format retailer, Carrefour can offer solutions addressing a wide variety of shopping habits.
In 2009, the Carrefour group is enhancing its knowledge of customers, with the aim of serving them better and improving its brand image. In stores, the Carrefour brand will be conveyed in a way that is closer to the customer and more emotionally involving. By being more competitive, the brand will again become a tool for winning customers, enhancing customer loyalty and distinguishing Carrefour from the pack. In towns and villages, as convergence accelerates, the Carrefour brand will provide its best stores to more customers. In this way, Carrefour will make customers want to come, and keep coming, to its stores, regardless of the format or product offering. By focusing on retailing, Carrefour will become customers' preferred retailer.


Transformation: increasing agility, execution quality and competitiveness
Carrefour's success is based on the talent and motivation of its staff. To increase efficiency and competitiveness, and in order to improve as a retailer, the Carrefour group is about to transform itself. It will redesign its organisation, enhance synergies between sales and purchasing, and create new relationships between head offices, countries and stores.
Sharing of knowledge and best practice will form the heart of this transformation process, which will be carried out by, and for the benefit of, our staff. Our employees' skills will be developed, and new careers will be offered to them, because as well as being the preferred retailer, we want to be the preferred employer.

Innovation: regaining initiative and leadership
Carrefour invented the hypermarket in 1963, own-brand products in 1976 and "Filières Qualité Carrefour" quality-guarantee systems in 1992. As a result, innovation is in our genes. To serve customers better and form closer ties with them, the Carrefour group will again tap into its pioneering spirit and step up innovation. Hypermarkets, which are a crucial tool in winning new customers, are entering the era of tailored services and adopting new roles. Objective:
to make the store experience exciting again, to win or regain the hearts of all customers.
Today, customers visit various types of stores, and so the Carrefour group is making its formats more complementary and introducing innovative new store concepts. In France, Carrefour is opening pilot convenience stores, i.e. Carrefour City in city centres and Carrefour Contact on the outskirts or in the centre of small towns. In Taiwan, Carrefour has created Carrefour Convenient Buy, a store open 24 hours a day. Carrefour is a multi-format group, and intends to be a multi-channel retailer too, strengthening its presence in e-commerce. The in-store offering will be enhanced with the launch of new product ranges that meet customers' current needs.
Together with other innovations, Carrefour will become a multi-service retailer.

Pricing Approach - EveryDay Low Price!

EDLP simply refers to charging the same price all the time, at a low price. This pricing approach allows retailers like Carrefour to minimize its advertising expenses and labour costs. 

Furthermore, it can help to build loyalty as there is guaranteed low prices to customers. There will also be fewer stockouts and higher inventory turns.

This is a way of addressing the current economic worries of consumers and of winning over new customers. In today’s tough economic environment, Carrefour wants to provide consumers with a tailor-made solution for keeping a grip on spending on everyday needs while offering the support of a national brand.