Carrefour's "hypermarket of the future" opens this year

“Customer more central than ever”

Back in November 2014, Carrefour had stated it wanted to open up to six new hypermarkets in Belgium, but now it has turned its focus to its very first “hypermarket of the future”. The exact location of the store will only be revealed later this year, with an opening planned for the fall.

“In our hypermarket of the future, everything will revolve even more around the customer. Carrefour Belgium wants to connect customers, partners and employees in such a way that their passion for shopping can be experienced to the fullest. To achieve this, we are starting from a blank slate”, the group mentioned in a statement.

It is currently unclear what this new store will be like, but Carrefour revealed eight “pillars for its hypermarket of the future”: ultramodern customer shopping experience; digital approach; varied product range; innovative services; easily-adaptable set-up for every type of audience or environment; contemporary simplicity; low prices and razor-sharp discounts; sustainable approach.”

More than 500 experts

To develop its “hypermarket of the future,” Carrefour Belgium has a varied and permanent team of a dozen experts at its disposal, alongside more than 500 passionate and experienced division managers from its existing hypermarkets.

Carrefour Belgium currently has nearly 750 stores: 45 hypermarkets, 438 Carrefour Markets, 263 Express convenience stores and 10 Drive.be pick-up points. In total, some 11,500 people work for the Belgian branch of the world’s second largest distributor.