French retail group Carrefour would like to have presented its new transformation plan before the end of the year, but the supermarket company’s board is now forced to shift the deadline to January.
Avoid strikes
The decision to delay its new strategy to 2018 is very simple: Carrefour fears strikes. Seeing how the holiday season is very important for the retailer, it has decided to delay its strategy revelation until after New Year, in the hopes that it can have a peaceful holiday season.
The fact that Carrefour is very careful about how and when it reveals its renewed strategy, indicates that it will most likely take drastic measures. Analysts assume the company will need to cut 1 billion euro in costs to get results back on track.
Labour unions are very displeased about the board’s approach, because they want to know the ins and outs as quickly as possible. “We want a plan of action: we are talking about a restructuring plan for the hypermarkets and a cost reduction. We would like to know which stores will be impacted”, labour union Force Ouvrière’s representative Michel Enguelz said.
