Carrefour for Shopping at Night!

In Italy the French group tries to stand out by extending the opening hours even at night.

By Antonello Vilardi

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY RETAIL WATCH (www.retailwatch.it).

11:15 pm, Monday, July 13, 2015… Carrefour Market located in Rome, at Via Casilina crossing Viale Filarete…the supermarket is open all night!

It offers 1,500 square meters of sales, a rich assortment of Fresh and Grocery, but the complex of assisted services is reduced in the fish market and deli departments, for obvious reasons of consistency with costs, potential customers and special time zone.

In truth, the self-service counters place more than decent its function:  between 8 pm and midnight, there are several consumers in the act of shopping.

The opening continued, every day 24 hours on from May 4.

The organization focuses on the versatility of the few employees present (four visible), formed specifically on multiple tasks (especially the cash desks) and the presence of armed security at the front door. 

Lay out.
Eight cash desks, beyond the barrier (output) an exhibition of bicycles, input given to fruit and vegetables, according to the traditional pattern of traditional supermarkets, then to follow  gastronomy, butcher, fishmonger and industrial packaging departments. Frozen and bench of mineral water stop at the end of the path.

Location.
The supermarket is located in an area, in the sixth district of Rome, that agglomerates approximately 122,000 people, made up of the areas Torpignattara (about 47,000 people), Casilino (about 11,000 people), Quadraro (about 21,000 people), Gordian (about 43,000 people).

These numbers show a decent user base, but it is also worth considering that the population of the area has decreased significantly between 2001 and 2010 (-6.4% - source LaboratorioRoma / Rapporto Municipio 06).

This is necessary in order to evaluate objectively the consistency of proposing a differentiator as radical as the opening hours to the public "non-stop", to compensate for sharp drops in sales.

The extension of opening hours at the maximum level is one of the most effective ways to differentiate.

Actually it has its costs and requires a return, which can be measured and appreciated with reference to the containment of the effects of the decline in sales, caused , in this case, by factors purely urban.

In this circumstance, it was certainly taking careful account: the cost in terms of image resized in presenting partial disruption (which is easily absorbed by any customer with common sense, who shops at that time), the economic weight of having to pay bonuses to hourly staff employed and the burden of work in a very versatile even at night, with associated costs for safety.

It's an experiment that can prove really interesting in relation to the theme of "effective differentiation of the commercial product", especially if it works in spite of the location is not positioned in front of Roman areas maximally busy during the night. 

CARREFOUR MARKET TORPIGNATTARA, Via Casilina, crossing Viale Filarete, ROME:

Assortment: 4
Differentiation: 5
Lay out: 4
Scene: 3
Location: 1

(Scale values: lowest (0) to the highest (5))