Carrefour Group, S.A. (, ), is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 stores in 40 countries. It is the seventh-largest retailer in the world by revenue.
History The first Carrefour shop (not a hypermarket) opened in 1960, within suburban Annecy, near a crossroads (hence the name ― carrefour means crossroads in French). The group was created in 1959 by Marcel Fournier, Denis Defforey and Jacques Defforey, who were influenced by several seminars in the United States led by Bernardo Trujillo.
The Carrefour group was the first in Europe to open a hypermarket: a large supermarket and a department store under the same roof. They opened their first hypermarket on 15 June 1963 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris.
In 1969, the company began opening its first stores beyond national borders, starting with neighboring Belgium. During the 1970s, it started developing its retail network across other continents as well.
In 1999, it merged with the Promodès group through a stock swap. On the Italian market, where it had been present since 1972, it acquired the Generale Supermercati (GS) and DìPerDì networks in 2000, progressively replacing their branding; from 2009, it began to focus on the central-northern area of the country. Its presence in the south developed mainly through franchising.
From 2008, Carrefour decided to invest in Eastern European countries (primarily Romania and Bulgaria) and China, reaching over 100 stores, and launched several openings in Russia and China with strategic consultancy from Citigroup. However, the expansion project in Russia was shelved in 2009 after the opening of a megastore in Moscow, an area that boasted a per capita income twice the national average but was, at the same time, a market that had reached the limit of its potential.
In May 2011, Carrefour decided to invest €1.5 billion ($2.22 billion) to introduce the supermarket concept of Carrefour Planet in Western Europe.
On 9 June 2017, the board of directors chose Alexandre Bompard as its new chairman and chief executive officer as of 18 July 2017.
In 2017, Carrefour began working with a small French start-up focused on food recycling, Expliceat, on a trial basis.
In January 2018, Alexandre Bompard announced a strategic plan for the company, entitled "Carrefour 2022" that included measures for improved food and package sustainability, limitation of food waste, development of organic products, e-commerce partnerships, and two billion euros in annual investments from 2018 as well as organisational and cost reduction measures.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carrefour was the first retailer to join the C'est qui le Patron ? initiative to share its additional incomes related to COVID-19 to support people who were suffering from pandemic.
In November 2024, Carrefour's Operations in Jordan were later changed to Hypermax by the Majid Al Futtaim Group. The same happened to Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain in January 2025.
In January 2025, the Puig & fils group (92 Petit Casino or Vival supermarkets), then in April 2025 the Magne group (101 Petit Casino or Vival supermarkets), announced that it was leaving the Groupe Casino for Carrefour.
On 12 November 2025, the Saadé family — owners of the shipping-group CMA CGM — acquired a 4% stake in the French retail giant Carrefour, becoming its second-largest shareholder and obtaining a board seat from 1 December 2025.
Financial data +Financial data in € billionsYear201320142015201620172018201920202021Net revenue74.88874.70676.94576.64578.89772.35572.39770.71972.958Net income1.2631.2490.9800.746 −0.531 −0.5611.1260.6411.072Assets43.56445.78945.09548.84547.81347.37850.80247.58847.668Employees363,989381,227380,920384,151378,923363,862321,383322,164319,565
Domestic operations
The headquarters of the Groupe Carrefour is in Massy, in the Paris metropolitan area. In 2019, the former Carrefour head office of Boulogne-Billancourt and the Carrefour France division office of Courcouronnes, Essonne, near Évry, were combined at that major location. A secondary head office is located in Mondeville, near Caen (Normandy), which was until 1999 the former Promodès headquarters.
In France, Carrefour operates under its name over 230 hypermarkets (from 2500 up to 23000 sq m sales area), 1020 Carrefour Market supermarkets (generally from 1000 up to 4000 sq m), and over 2000 smaller supermarkets and convenience stores under the Carrefour City, Carrefour Contact and Carrefour Express banners.
Carrefour also owns the Promocash Cash&Carry chain (130 locations) and supplies 1500 independent small food stores under the Proxi banner.
In 2019, the group launched its first Supeco soft discount stores, which are so far all located in the French Northern region Hauts-de-France.
In December 2023, Carrefour and Uber decided to team up to get access to the French supermarket chain's charging points for electric vehicles. Uber has invested around $323,400 to allow its VTC (tourist vehicle with drivers) drivers using EVs to charge their cars in the Carrefour Énergies' stations in France.
International operations
By 2024, the group had 14,000 stores in 40 countries.
Africa
Tunisia The first hypermarket opened in 2001. Egypt The first hypermarket opened in 2002. Morocco The first hypermarket opened in 2009. Algeria The first hypermarket opened in 2015. Ivory Coast CFAO Group opened the first hypermarket in Playce Shopping Mall in Abidjan in 2015. Ethiopia Operations in Ethiopia are expected to commence in 2026 through the signing of a franchise agreement with Midroc Investment Group. Kenya The retailer is the anchor client of The Hub Karen Mall where it opened its first Kenyan store in May 2016. A second outlet was opened at Two Rivers Mall in March 2017, soon followed by a third store the Thika Road Mall in November 2017. The fourth outlet was opened at the Junction Mall along Ngong Road in January 2018; the fifth at Sarit Center in April 2018. In June 2020, Carrefour opened a new store along Uhuru Highway. In September 2020, Carrefour announced plans to continue its expansion efforts by opening three branches in the coastal city of Mombasa. In May 2021 it opened another branch of Carrefour Market in Garden City Mall along the Thika superhighway. It also has a branch at Westgate Mall previously occupied by ShopRite. Carrefour has 28 outlets in Kenya, largely located in the suburbs of Nairobi. The retailer's expansion into Kenya has benefited from the failure of previously dominant supermarket chains such as Nakumatt and Uchumi as Carrefour rushed in to occupy the retail spaces and market share it vacated. Cameroon CFAO Group opened the first supermarket in 2017. Senegal CFAO Group opened the first Carrefour Market in Senegal at Point E, Dakar, in January 2019. Uganda The first hypermarket opened in 2020. The anchor clients are located at Oasis Mall and Metroplex and are in spaces previously occupied by the Kenyan retail chain Nakumatt. In September 2021, Carrefour signed an agreement with Shoprite of South Africa for the former to take over six stores that the latter would vacate in Uganda. This has increased Carrefour's presence in the country significantly. As of 2023, there are six outlets located in Kampala: Acacia Mall (Kissimenti), Arena Mall (Nsambya), Lugogo Mall (Nakawa), Metroplex (Naalya), Oasis Mall (Nakasero) and Village Mall (Bugolobi). One outlet is located in Victoria Mall in Entebbe. Gabon In 2021, Carrefour announced the opening of its first store in Libreville with Prix Import as a franchise partner. As of July 2025 there are 9 stores. Madagascar The first hypermarket opened in 2021. Mauritius The first hypermarket opened in 2024. Democratic Republic of Congo The first hypermarket opened in 2025.
Asia Armenia On 11 March 2015 Carrefour opened its first store located in Yerevan Mall, Yerevan. It had around 7,000 m2 space (without offices). President Serzh Sargsyan was present at the opening. A second store was opened in Rossia Mall in downtown Yerevan. As of September 2025, Carrefour Armenia has two major stores (hypermarkets / markets) and several smaller "express" shops. Between 2015 and 2024, Carrefour stores in Armenia were franchised by Majid Al Futtaim Group. In late 2024, Carrefour Armenia changed its franchise to Food Depot LLC and changed its logo to the original French logo. Pakistan In 2009, Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in Lahore in a joint venture with Majid Al Futtaim Group, where it achieved in revenues in its first year. It attracted more than 1 million customers every month. On 14 November 2011, Hyperstar opened its second hypermarket in the country in Karachi. On 22 March 2016, it expanded its operations to Islamabad by opening a hypermarket in World Trade Center Islamabad. Since 20 December 2018, MAF has rebranded Hyperstar to Carrefour across Pakistan. It has plans to expand its stores to other cities including Gujranwala, Multan and Hyderabad. As of June 2019, the group had already invested and was looking to invest another in Pakistan. It is operating at least seven hypermarkets (three in Lahore, two in Karachi, one in Islamabad and one in Faisalabad's Lyallpur Galleria) and one superstore in Pakistan. Mongolia On 17 February 2023, Carrefour opened its first two stores in the nation's capital Ulaanbaatar, with the partnership of Altan Joloo. As of 7 December 2025, it has 19 stores. The largest branch is at Sila Centre.
West Asia Majid Al Futtaim has handled the Carrefour operations in the Middle East and North Africa region since 1995, as the company opened the region's first hypermarket at City Centre Deira – it initially was a Continent-branded store before it converted to Carrefour four years later. As of 2020, Majid Al Futtaim operates over 320 Carrefour stores in 16 countries, serving more than 750,000 customers daily and employing over 37,000 workers.
Iran In February 2009, MAF opened its first store in Iran, called Iran Hyper Star. Iraq Majid al Futtaim opened the first Carrefour in Erbil in 2011. There is also a Family Mall Carrefour Department store in Sulaymaniyah. Along with several other international brands, as of June 2024, Carrefour has opened a branch in the capital city of Baghdad. Israel In March 2022, Carrefour signed a franchising agreement with Electra Consumer Products to discontinue the Yeinot Bitan and Mega Ba'ir chains of stores and rebrand them as Carrefour branches. In July 2023, Carrefour stated that it would not be opening branches in the West Bank. Lebanon On 4 April 2013, Majid al Futtaim inaugurated a Carrefour hypermarket at their City Centre Beirut mall, in the Hazmieh suburb of Beirut. In September 2017, a second Carrefour outlet opened at the CityMall Dora, replacing a venue formerly held by a Monop' hypermarket. In June 2018, a third outlet opened at the Tower Center mall in Zouk Mosbeh. In February 2019, a fourth Carrefour, and the first supermarket format venue, opened within the Aley District. The fourth Carrefour is considered a major step for the company's expansion in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia In 2004, Carrefour opened its first branch in Saudi Arabia by Majid Al Futtaim.
United Arab Emirates On 28 November 1995, Carrefour opened its first branch, in City Centre Deira in Dubai by Majid Al Futtaim. The following day, on 29 November 1995, the second branch opened in Airport Road in Abu Dhabi. On 1 March 2022, Carrefour opened in City Centre Me'aisem in Dubai its first Bio store.
Europe (outside France)