French Retailer Carrefour To Take Up 6 New Store Spaces In Uganda

French retailer Carrefour announced plans to take up six new stores spaces in Uganda currently occupied by South African retailer Shoprite supermarket, in Uganda.

The six are on Acacia Mall, Village Mall, Victoria Mall, Lugogo Mall, Clock Tower, and Arena Mall, by the end of the year after Shoprite’s planned exit.

Carrefour which entered the African market in 2013 when it opened its first branch in Egypt, has been on an aggressive expansion spree and has since opened thirty-five branches in Egypt, sixteen in Kenya, two in Uganda, and others in Tunisia, Morocco, and Cameroon.

Its expansion drive has mainly been supported by:

i) e-commerce presence in the market increasing their popularity and demand for goods

ii) mergers & acquisition strategies that have helped to streamline its operations

iii) strong brand reputation through its quality products and services

iv) improving infrastructure opening up areas for investment opportunities and access by target customers.

The expansion into Uganda can be supported by Uganda’s high population growth rate at 3.0 percent against the world’s 1.1 percent facilitating the need for more goods and retail spaces, coupled with Shoprite’s announcement to exit the East African Market in 2020 as a result of financial constraints and losses generated, thus leaving prime retail spaces for uptake by the retailer.

In our view, Carrefour’s continued expansion spree is expected to help cushion the overall performance of the African retail market by taking up spaces previously occupied by troubled retailers.

This is inclusive of Kenya as it was the first East African country that the French retailer based its operations in May 2016 and currently has sixteen branches having recently opened two branches in Kisumu County.

Read More: Carrefour Borrows Ksh 3 Billion To Expand Kenyan Business