Carrefour confirmed investment of R$1,8 billion next year

The Carrefour Group intends to invest $1.8 billion in R country in 2019, the same figure applied this year. Noël Prioux, President of the group in Brazil, said that the investment could be greater. He linked the increased contribution to improving economic scenario, expected after the elections. "We need a Government elected with common design, that is something that the Brazilians have to build," he said. To invest more, all businesses need to have confidence, said the Executive yesterday, during the announcement of a global project to stimulate the sale of healthy products, including regional production and organic items. This project is included in the investment plan in the country, which also includes opening atacarejo shops, hypermarket and supermarket chains. Baptized "Act for Food", the program of investing in healthy food occurs simultaneously in all countries where the company is one of the pillars of the Group's transformation plan, announced in France in January. Another pillar is the change in the digital area. The company has established the goal of doubling the participation of organic products sales of fresh items until 2020, when it must reach 5 billion. According to Prioux, the average brazilian Organics represent around 0.6% of the total. He believes that, with this project, it would be possible to achieve 5% slice "quickly". "Carrefour is the first major player in the industry of supermarkets in the country that embraces the cause of healthy products", Alexandre Van Beeck, retail consultant Gouvea de Souza. That move, he said, was made to meet the growing demand for this type of food. How to introduce these products in stores – not just buying organic items, but tracking the whole production chain, from farm to supermarket shelf –, has as a model American supermarket chain Whole Foods. The network was bought by Amazon, the world's leading digital retail. Prices Currently Carrefour has 1,500 producers involved in this project, of which 650 are geared to organic foods. By the end of the year, the intention is to implement in 50 stores specific corridors to expose healthy products. Next year, the expectation is to sell these items in all the stores. The President of Carrefour said the company expects these healthy products have affordable prices. The goal is to allow a reduction in the difference today between the organic and non-organic products. According to him, this difference revolves around 25% and should fall back to 15%. Another focus of the healthy food program is the development of local producers to Carrefour's own brand items. As is well known in the supermarkets, retail marketing margins of fresh, organic items and brand are usually bigger than other foods. However, Prioux emphasized that this is not the purpose of the program, because he has relevant costs, such as transportation. For him, the importance of the initiative is the chance to sell more.