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By Gram Slattery and Gabriela Mello
Overall, the company plans to open 20 wholesale stores in2018, 10 traditional hypermarkets and 20 Carrefour Expressconvenience stores. It also plans to convert five to sevenhypermarkets into wholesale stores this year and has thepotential for a total of 120 to 140 new stores by 2022, theexecutives said.
"We have the potential to do our work in 80 to 85 cities,"Roberto Mussnich, head of Carrefour Brasil's wholesale division,told investors and analysts at the company's annual investors'day in
The expansion plans, particularly in the wholesale Atacadaoformat, reflects the company's ambitions to gain and consolidatemarket share as
The company, the Brazilian unit of
Speaking to journalists, Carrefour executives said they wereopen to non-organic expansion options, such as entering intofranchising agreements or acquiring high-quality regionalplayers.
"We don't have any barriers set up. ... A franchising modelin supermarkets is possible. We're open to everything," ChiefExecutive Officer Noel Prioux said, adding that the company has"identified potential partnerships."
Regarding WalMart Inc's
At the investors' day, executives also emphasized BrasilCarrefour's focus on expanding its e-commerce and digitalfootprint in the coming years.
The retailer plans to offer at all its locations in Brasilthe option to purchase items online and pick them up in personat a Carrefour store by the end of 2018, said Paula Cardoso,head of Carrefour Brasil's financial division.
She said the retailer is negotiating with 95 vendors to sellon the company's online "marketplace," which will offercustomers more than 120 product categories.(Reporting by Gabriella Mello; Writing by Gram SlatteryEditing by Leslie Adler)
