A few days ago, the world's top supermarket giant Carrefour announced
Stopped selling Pepsi in France,
Lay's, Doritos, and
7Up and other PepsiCo products,
The reason is that they believe that the price increase of PepsiCo products is unacceptable.
Carrefour will also reportedly remove PepsiCo products from stores in Italy, Spain and Belgium. According to a report released by Carrefour, there are more than 9,000 stores in the four affected countries, accounting for about two-thirds of Carrefour's 14,348 stores worldwide.
Carrefour announced the "blocking" of Pepsi in four European countries
According to media reports, on January 4, 2024 local time, a spokesman for Carrefour's French supermarket said that slogans will be posted on the shelves of Pepsi products in Carrefour stores in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium, indicating that due to unacceptable price increases, supermarkets will no longer sell Pepsi's eight brands, including Lay's, Doritos, Benenuts, Alvalle, Lipton, Pepsi, 7Up and Quaker products.
Grocery retailers in several countries, such as Germany and Belgium, have similarly halted orders from consumer goods companies, a tactic in price negotiations that have become more worrying due to inflation.
PepsiCo said in a statement: "We have been in discussions with Carrefour for several months and we will continue to work together in good faith to ensure the supply of our products." ”
However, since Thursday, some Carrefour stores have stopped selling products such as Cheetos and 7-Up, and Pepsi and some products are still on the shelves.
Customers in supermarkets generally welcomed the move. "I'm not surprised at all", shopper Edith Carpentier told the media: "I think there will be a lot of products on the shelves because they have become too expensive and they are all things that we can avoid buying." ”
PepsiCo has raised prices for seven consecutive quarters
PepsiCo said in October last year that it planned a "small" price increase due to rising demand, leading it to raise its profit forecast for 2023 for the third time in a row. Prior to that, PepsiCo had raised prices for seven consecutive quarters.
This approach of "chasing inflation with price increases" has clearly put pressure on supermarket turnover and forced retailers to demand price cuts in a new round of price negotiations.
Carrefour has also been one of the most active retailers challenging large consumer goods and food companies on price issues. Last year, the company launched a "contraction inflation" campaign, putting warnings on products that are smaller in size but more expensive. In an effort to bring inflation down, the French government is asking retailers and suppliers to complete annual price negotiations in January, two months earlier than usual.
What is unusual in Europe is that it imposes strict regulations on retail, forcing supermarkets to negotiate prices with food and beverage producers only once a year in order to protect their agricultural industry.
But the last round of negotiations, at the height of the inflation crisis, early last year, saw prices rise sharply across the board, which hit supermarket turnover and prompted them to negotiate price cuts in this round of negotiations.
James Walton, chief economist at the Grocery Distribution Institute, said that apparently this is a last resort because no one will win if there are no items on the shelves that people want.
Source: Xinmin Evening News (xmwb1929) Comprehensive Finance Associated Press, Securities Times, The Paper, Brokerage China, China Business News, etc
Review and editor: He Yucheng
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