Step-by-Step Guide to Building A Hyperlocal App Like Carrefour

Last Updated on May 12, 2022

The revolutionary advancement in technologies has not only enabled the human species to reach new horizons, but it has also helped us to transform our daily lifestyle extensively. 

Everything that you need or want in your life is now just a few seconds away. Your mobile has possibly everything that you could ever wish for. All you are required is to be familiar with platforms and applications that can make your life a lot more comfortable than it already is. 

Speaking of applications and platforms that are making everyday life easier and convenient, there is no possible way that you can miss out on Carrefour on this list.

Carrefour is a hypermarket store that strives to present its customers with a great level of personalization. This approach to catering to every single customer with great regard and care is what sets Carrefour apart from its counterparts.

This article is an attempt to present the readers with a piece of detailed knowledge regarding the growth timeline of Carrefour, its business model, intriguing features, and much more. All of this information will help you in building an app similar to Carrefour that will eventually lead you to come up with the best hypermarket store of your own.

What is Carrefour?

Carrefour is an omnichannel with multiple formats which employs more than 38,000 people all over the world. These employees are distributed over 12,300 stores. This delivery platform has been reaching for the stars as it recently has been successful in generating a sale of about €88.4 billion. Other than this, the business has happy customers all over the world, making it a preferred choice of millions. 

The delivery services are available for the users through online applications. Being a hypermarket store, it covers a wide range of products so as to cater to the needs of the consumers in the best possible manner. Whatever you need will be delivered to your doorstep in a jiffy through the same-day delivery services offered by the platform. 

Growth Timeline of Carrefour

It all started back in the year 1960 when the first Carrefour was opened in Annecy, a suburban area near the crossroads. It was introduced by Denis Defforey, Jacques Defforey, along with Marcel Fournier. You would be astonished to discover that the trio was the first group ever to introduce the concept of hypermarket in Europe. Slowly and steadily, Carrefour started to expand, and soon enough, in 1963, the first departmental store along with a supermarket store was opened in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris.

Ever since Carrefour has never looked behind, the unique idea of bringing together everything a user might need has led to tremendous growth for Carrefour. In the year 2011, the company became more concrete with its strategy and plans for considerable growth and invested about €1.5 billion in the approach to launch the concept of supermarkets in Europe.

In certain statistical reports. According to a report from Statista, the worldwide market for edible groceries saw 7.4 percent growth in the post-COVID-19 period in 2020. The growth of demand for edible groceries was different worldwide, from an amazing 7.8 percent in the United States to a decent 0.6 percent in the United Kingdom (UK).

Considering the growth, the future ambitions for Carrefour were only growing to be larger and better. In 2018, it was announced that the organization is heading towards the goal of Carrefour 2022, which aims at transforming Carrefour to be the “leader of the delivery transition for all time” by the year 2022. The aim of this is to come up with efficient package delivery, restrict wastage of food, form new e-commerce partnerships, and whatnot. 

With the online application, Carrefour is getting closer day by day to its goals and considering the effective increase in the number of users connecting through the online application.

Business Model of Carrefour

In order to learn about the working and functionality of the app, it is highly essential that you devote a dedicated period of time in order to gather as much information as possible about the business model of this hypermarket chain. 

Whether the consumers are looking for food brands, products of superior quality, or household goods, Carrefour is the one-stop platform where one can get it. With all of the unique offers and a wide range of products, the hypermarket has been successful in attracting more and more customers.

As per the statistics received from a case study, Carrefour in UAE has been meeting the daily needs of more than 200,000 customers every single day. This whooping number is achieved just from 43 supermarkets and 28 hypermarkets.

Hence, it is safe to say that the platform makes a great deal to maintain effective supply management. This requires keeping a regular check on the supply chain, customer service, logistics, demand management, sourcing, inventory & transportation management, distribution, and so much more. 

There are three segments involved to make sure everything is aligned in a perfect manner to meet the needs of the consumers. The following section is an attempt to help you learn about the workflow of Carrefour services by explaining the three entities and how they work together. Read on in order to know more details. The perfect harmony between the three segments ensures successful operations.

• Consumers

This entity comprises numerous customers who opt for the services offered by Carrefour. Since every individual is living a fast-paced life, people are looking for an alternative to do everyday chores such as shopping. Carrefour strives to provide the consumers with doorstep services so that their busy schedules are not disrupted. With the help of apps like Carrefour, there is no need for the customers to physically visit the store. 

• Delivery Providers

The second entity involved the delivery personnel. These individuals volunteer to be associated with the company in order to play an important role in enabling the organization to offer the said services. Even the stores that strive to present their customers with their products and services outside the usual channel can be a part of this entity. 

• Local Stores

The local stores wish to increase their customer base consistently, which will eventually help them in order to generate more revenue and profit from the third segment of the entire process.

The consumers reach out to download the online application and connect with the local stores. At the same time, the delivery personnel ensures that the products bought by the consumers are delivered to the doorstep. The same-day delivery offered by Carrefour has made the modern, fast-paced life a lot easier. The smooth communication between the three said entities is what makes Carrefour a preferable choice for millions all over the world. 

Here is the complete hyperlocal delivery business model explained in detail to help you gain deeper insight into how such delivery apps work.

Revenue Model of Carrefour

Carrefour is a hypermarket market store that has not only flourished immensely over the years of its existence, but it also has presented countless start-ups in the delivery vertical with an inspiration to achieve the best of their potential. Other than this, the flawless revenue model of Carrefour helps the application to gain massive amounts of profits that not only help it to keep going but open the doors to new opportunities every now and then. 

Carrefour has always been known to be a business tycoon that lies to be a step ahead of its competitors and hence, keeps trying to bring new reforms which help in offering the best of its services to the customers and retain them for the long run. 

The following is a list of dedicated pointers to help you grasp better how Carrefour makes huge profits. Read on in order to gather more relevant information. 

• Standard Delivery

A basic convenience fee is charged to all of the customers using Carrefour whenever they place an order. Contrary to the misconception, the standard delivery fee is not associated with the value of the order placed by a customer. It is dependent on the market they are operating in along with that the distance between the store and delivery location. 

• Revenue Shares From The Stores

Since the local stores are using the platform in order to attract more customers, the platform gets a recurring revenue share of about 15% to 30% from the local stores. The percentage of the revenue share cut primarily depends on the age of the market they are operating in, along with that of maturity. 

• Marketing and Advertising

Since the platform is accessible to millions of potential customers, more businesses are interested in promoting their business on such a platform. The platform allows them to promote their business in exchange for expansion in their customer base. Entities such as customer-facing brand campaigns, email marketing, relatable social posts, and other marketing sources are involved in this exchange. 

The amount of revenue generated is also dependent on choosing the right type of hyper-local delivery business model by considering all the factors in your business plan.

Carrefour App – Features List

Considering the tremendous growth of Carrefour, the obvious question that comes to mind is what is the secret behind the success of Carrefour and why other hypermarket apps cannot grow as consistently as that of Carrefour. While you might get trapped in the web of technicalities, the real answer lies in the fact that Carrefour offers a compilation of innovative and savvy experiences through experienced app development. 

Since the application primarily aims to focus on the day-to-day needs such as groceries, homeware, essentials, even luxuries, and whatnot, the consumer base keeps expanding at a steady rate, presenting them with an opportunity to give high-quality products to the customers at an affordable price. 

The following is a list of dedicated points consisting of different features that have been incorporated in the Carrefour app, making it stand out in the crowd. Keep reading so that you can explore more details regarding the same.

• Effective Customer Support System

Usually, the lacking point for any online application is the support system in case things go south. Carrefour understands this well and has ensured that if you need any help regarding your order, or the functionality of the application, you will find an effective system backing you up 24/7. 

• Categorization

Navigating from one product to another can be a tad bit difficult. In order to make things easier, different categories have been made in order to sort the products available for the customers to buy depending upon their nature. All you ever need is a list of things that you wish to buy, and you can find them within no time through easy navigation throughout different categories. 

• Easy Sign-In

Many applications take a significant amount of your time to register yourself. But with the single-step sign-up of Carrefour, this is not something that you need to concern yourself with. You can also use the social media portal profiles in order to take care of this. 

• Store Locator

If you are new to the Carrefour app and you are unaware of the nearby stores that can deliver anything you need on the same day, then you need not fret about it as the application presents you with an option to locate nearby stores. The inbuilt GPS system will effectively help you in finding the nearest store that you are required to pay a minimal convenience fee, and your order will be delivered to your doorstep in no time. 

• Regular Updation

The application is regularly updated to inform the consumers whether or not certain products that they are looking for are stocked up. Not only the availability of the products but the deal of the day is also regulated so the consumers can make the best choice and save a considerable amount of money on every order from Carrefour.

• Bulk Orders

Since the platform has a wide range of day-to-day products, then it only makes sense to order them in bulk so as to save on the convenience fee. Other than this, the bulk orders will also present you with additional benefits so that you can save a little more. Whether it is baby products, personal care, electronics, or other products, you can find it all in the hypermarket store. 

• Buy Again

You can check out your previous orders from the history and select the option to buy again on the application. This feature will certainly help the customers a lot with recurrent buying. 

• Offers and Discounts

There are multiple offers available on the platform to make buying everyday essentials a lot more fun than it already is. The push notifications make it easier for the customers to keep track of the offers and discounts. 

• Multi-Language Support

The app is a great hit in the United Arab Emirates, and hence, the app supports both English as well as Arabic. This multi-language feature enables the app to increase its user base by being accessible to a greater audience.  

• Advanced User-Interface

The user interface of the application is highly advanced as it incorporates simplicity along with better functionality which in turn attracts more users to opt for it over its competitors. 

• Safe Gateway

The payment gateways offered by the applications are absolutely safe, creating a sense of security and trust among the customers.

Technology Stack For An App Like Carrefour

• Application and Data- Java, Apache HTTP Server, Debian
• Utilities- Google Tag Manager
• Business Tools- Google Fonts

Bonus Tips

The following is a list of tips to help you come up with an app just like Carrefour. Read to know more.

• Make sure the interface is user-friendly.
• Make sure there are provisions for tracking the delivery.
• Try to keep the checkout process as simple as possible.
• Make provisions for review and ratings to regulate the application from time to time. 

Also, here is a complete guide to launching a successful supermarket application for your knowledge!

Frequently Asked Questions for Building an App like Carrefour(FAQs)