Recently, the Beijing Zhongguancun Carrefour store was officially closed. It used to be the largest flagship store in Asia. Opened in 2004, the store covered an area of 11,600 square meters of hypermarket. In addition to supermarkets, it also included a variety of branded clothing stores, restaurants, pet stores, etc., so that consumers could shop in it as a kind of enjoyment.
In 2010, Carrefour ranked second with a sales of 33.8 billion yuan in the list of China's top 10 supermarket chains released by the China Chain Store Association.
In fact, more and more hypermarkets have closed their stores in recent years, which is already the norm. South Korea's Lotte Mart, Spain's Dia Tiantian, France's Auchan, and Britain's Tesco withdrew from the Chinese market, and Walmart was forced to close stores continuously. The traditional supermarkets seem to have come to an end.
There are many reasons related to the store closing. Externally, comprehensive e-commerce, fresh e-commerce, community group buying, and other new business models emerge in an endless stream. Regarding internal pressures, the profit model of the traditional supermarket is tight, and the selection management is backward. These problems have existed for a long time, and it is difficult to change.
The growing tide of hypermarket closures has even affected the commercial distribution pattern of the city. In the past, a hypermarket like Carrefour could often become a community commercial center within a few kilometers, and each community would set up a "free shuttle". But now, a variety of convenience stores and community fresh stores with a small area have disrupted the passenger flow of hypermarkets, and the "centralized" commercial layout has become "distributed".
Some people in the industry even believe that 2022 may be the year when traditional supermarkets get closed permanently.
Source: Fresh Headlines
