A PepsiCo spokesperson told The Post that the company “has been in discussions with Carrefour for several months and we will continue to engage in good faith to ensure the availability of our products.”
As Europeans continue to struggle with high food prices, Carrefour has moved on. In France, food prices rose more than 7 percent year-on-year in December. Inflation peaked in March 2023, rising nearly 16 percent An assessment.
Retailers in the U.S. have also fought with suppliers to lower food prices. To apply pressure, some stores will put brands in the “penalty box,” said Randall Sargent, a partner in the retail and consumer products division of marketing consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
That means unfavorable shelf space, less promotion and higher prices, he said, making the products “less attractive to consumers to buy that brand compared to another.”
But in Europe, such extreme tactics as pulling all the products are not uncommon, Sargent said. Grocers in the region are smaller, leaving less noticeable holes on the shelves, and European consumers are already more willing to buy stores' own brands, he said.
“While consumers are still very loyal to some national brands, it's a bit less disruptive when they're pulled off the shelf because they're already used to, and in many ways, willing to become, the private brand equivalent,” Sargent said.
Carrefour expects According to a strategic plan released in 2022 to grow its private label, the company aims for its private label to represent 40 percent of food sales by 2026 — up from 33 percent in 2022.
PepsiCo's business in Europe accounts for about 14 percent of its global revenue, which is about $9 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. reported. Given Carrefour's size and scale in the region, the loss of shelf stock would “definitely affect suppliers' business in Europe, if not globally,” Sargent said.
