Carrefour's Exit from South Korea

Despite its experience elsewhere, Carrefour failed to localize its stores to a sufficient extent, as per the preferences of South Korean customers. Instead it tried to introduce its global practices and strategies in the country. Carrefour's stores layout, ambience, products, location, etc. failed to attract customers. The company wanted to attract the customers by providing them high quality products in bulk at low prices. Its stores were styled like warehouses and were simple in appearance compared to the stores of its competitors.

Initially, customers in South Korea were enthusiastic about the warehouse style of Carrefour stores, but most of them were not bulk purchasers.

When Carrefour announced its decision to withdraw from the Korean market, the decision surprised analysts. Despite its problems they believed that the company was on the verge of success and had made an unnecessarily hasty retreat. They pointed out that the country was just recovering from credit card related personal debt problems and there was a marked improvement in consumer confidence, and retail spending had been registering continuous growth. Other factors like the stable job market and increasing incomes were also helping consumer spending...