Since Thursday, January 4, Carrefour no longer sells products marketed by the American company. The price increases set by the American industrial company are unacceptable to the French retail chain.
There is a conflict between Carrefour and PepsiCo. The French supermarket chain has decided to no longer sell products from the American company. To inform its customers, the French retailer has placed corresponding signs on its shelves since Thursday, instead of the products belonging to PepsiCo. They say: “We no longer sell this brand due to an unacceptable price increase.” Since the usual annual price negotiations in France between industry and retail must be concluded by the end of January, Carrefour wants to put pressure on the American company with its approximately 5,300 branches in France alone. The company demands a 7% price increase for all its products.
The PepsiCo group produces much more than the eponymous carbonated beverage. The group owns around 15 different brands. Among them are the drinks Lipton, 7Up, Rockstar, Mirinda, Kas, and Mountain Dew. As for food, the group also markets Lay’s chips, Cheetos, Sunbreaks, and Doritos, Alvalle gazpacho, Benuts peanuts, Off the Eaten Path cookies, and Quaker cereals. A profitable combination that generated revenues of over 86 billion dollars for the American company in 2022. With numerous price increases and continued demand for its snacks and beverages, PepsiCo’s results for 2023 are expected to be equally good. This is not the first time that PepsiCo has been blacklisted by a retailer due to its price increases deemed excessive.
A precedent already last year
In March 2023, the supermarket chain Système U had already confronted the American company and withdrawn its products. After a month of negotiations, PepsiCo finally reduced its demands. The products returned to the shelves of Système U, which includes the brands Hyper U, Super U, U Express, and Utile. The retailers’ struggle to lower prices and provide their customers with greater purchasing power seems legitimate in times of inflation. According to the latest figures from the French statistics institute Insee, published on January 4, food prices in December 2023 rose by 7.1% compared to December 2022.
According to the broadcaster BFMTV, Carrefour plans to remove PepsiCo products from the shelves of its hypermarkets and supermarkets not only in France but also in Spain, Italy, and Belgium (a total of 8,300 stores). This could further increase the pressure on the manufacturers.