Carrefour launches first Atacadão in Europe

Carrefour opened its first European Atacadão at O’Parinor near Paris on June 20, 2024, with a cash-and-carry format serving businesses and individual shoppers.

Carrefour opened its first European Atacadão store on June 20, 2024, in Aulnay-sous-Bois, north of Paris. The Brazilian cash-and-carry format occupies a former hypermarket at the O’Parinor shopping center and covers nearly 10,000 square meters.

Prices and range

Atacadão serves both business customers and individual shoppers. Carrefour is targeting prices averaging 10% to 15% below those of traditional hypermarkets. Unit prices fall for bulk purchases.

The assortment can reach 20,000 items depending on the season, including 3,000 Carrefour own-brand products. Food accounts for most of the range, alongside some non-food goods such as gardening supplies. Around 70% of the offering is of French origin.

How it keeps costs down

Products are sold from pallets, suppliers deliver directly to the store and advertising is kept to a minimum.

Chairman and CEO Alexandre Bompard said Carrefour believed in the format but would review the store’s results over six to eight months before opening more.