Carrefour lets customers choose their own discounts
French supermarket chain Carrefour is launching a “free promotion” system called PromoLibre to give consumers more choice during the economic downturn.
The scheme lets customers can choose the products for which they would like discounts.
The retailer says it wants to take a pro-active approach to prices, by bringing customers concrete solutions in terms of purchasing power and freedom.
Every week, Carrefour will offer its customers the chance to select their own PromoLibre products. This offer will apply to all products (national and retailer brands) within predefined product lines that are renewed every week.
For grocery items, the customer can choose their three favourite products from the PromoLibre line and the lowest priced of these will be refunded. If the customer buys six items, the scheme will refund the two lowest-priced products.
For non-grocery items, the system is slightly different: customers can choose items from the PromoLibre selection and receive a 20% discount.
In both cases, the refund is automatically credited to the customer’s loyalty account.
Carrefour started the concept at the end of February with its Breakfast (650 product references) and Small Home Appliances departments. For the week starting 1 March, customers will be able to choose their PromoLibre products in the Personal Care and Large Home Appliances sections.
The move corresponds to the findings of an IFOP survey carried out at the end of January, which showed that 41 per cent of French consumers felt that the promotions did not correspond to their needs, with 95% keen on choosing the products themselves.