I just went in to Carrefour in Bali, the first superstore that I’ve seen here. It opened up in the last month and those of you in the states familiar with Wal-Mart would know what to expect. They have everything! I would say that it’s actually nicer than Wal-Mart! They have fridges, TVs, Luggage, Clothing, Food, Baked Goods, Prepared food. Pretty much anything you would need to buy for living, they have.
From a business point of view, what is interesting is the dichotomy of the two markets the store serves. How do you be all things to all (in this case some) people! As I see it, Carrefour has two distinct target demographics – Foreigners and Locals. There are items and sections of the store specifically targeted towards maybe the top 15% of urban dwelling locals, such as inexpensive toys, inexpensive plastic buckets, eels (eww), clothing etc… but they also serve the expatriate community and have a large selection of baked goods, televisions, computers, etc…
What I have to applaud them for is their assessment of the market, their range of products and their strategy to target both locals and expats. Because there are lots of inexpensive buckets etc… around, I think Im getting a good deal, and maybe the locals that shop there enjoy the new experience of everything in one place.
Wal-Mart usually has the stigma (at least in the US) of destroying mom & pop. Maybe Carrefour and its competitors over time will do the same here. However, when it seems to take 30 minutes travel time to get ANYWHERE, going to one place that has it all is great.
As far as a strategy in Bali, I think Carrefour got it largely right! The supermarket is on the top floor of a shopping center with an Apple authorized reseller (PcMax) and many other stores and food outlets. So, instead of just a supermarket, Carrefour is a destination.
As a side note, all of the PCs that Carrefour was selling seemed to be running KDE. I didn’t get a good look at what flavor of linux they were running though. Is linux big in Indonesia? Or does Carrefour have to play by the rules with software piracy and doesn’t want to raise the price of a computer with the Microsoft tax?
Other Blogs about this:
Popularity: 7% [?]
Social: digg / del.icio.us
