KENYA – Carrefour Kenya is in an expansion spree, opening its 12th store in the country days after it opened doors to its new outlet at Centrepoint Mall in Diani, Kwale County.

The new branch is located at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, a space which was previously occupied by Shoprite who is in the process of vacating Kenya’s retail market.

Apart from Westgate branch, Carrefour has taken up spaces previously occupied by struggling retailers Uchumi, Shoprite and Nakumatt at prime spots including Village Market, Sarit Centre, Junction Mall, Galleria, Mega Hypermarket, Thika Road Mall, City Mall, Centrepoint Mall.

The retailer also has base at the Nextgen Mall, Two Rivers Mall and The Hub Mall.

Carrefour has taken up spaces previously occupied by struggling retailers Uchumi, Shoprite and Nakumatt

To spearhead its expansion plan, the supermarket chain owner obtained a sh.3 billion (US$28.3m) loan facility from South Africa’s Standard Bank Group last year.

Its quest to expand its retail presence in Kenya is in a bid to continue catering to the growing need of modern retail stores and creating jobs for the local community.

To this end the retailer owned and operated by Dubai based franchise holder Majid Al Futtaim, hopes to create at least 200 direct and indirect jobs.

“The new store will bring services closer to customers by adopting the Carrefour Market model. Through this model, Carrefour will provide customers with a selected assortment of essentials that are the most relevant to customers’ everyday life,” Franck Moreau, Country Manager Majid Al Futtaim said.

In a bid to create a convenient shopping experience for its customers, Carrefour has introduced several digital services such as “Valet trolley” which will give customers the chance to shop and have their goods ready for collection at the store.

This is in addition to the ‘Click and Collect’ service which will allow customers to shop online and then drop by the mall to have their shopping brought to the trunk of their car.

Also, the retailer has launched an online shopping app dubbed MAF Carrefour App, to enable customers to shop for their essentials virtually and have them delivered to their preferred location.

With the app customers are promised a seamless shopping experience allowing them to quickly and conveniently browse and add all their essentials to a digital cart.

Offering more than 8,000 items including groceries, fresh-food and light household products, the app features a ‘build your shopping list’ function as well as a ‘frequently purchased’ tab which saves items bought regularly.

Customers can also access their receipts as well as past transactions anytime through the app.

Currently delivery is available within Nairobi with plans to expand to other cities across the country in the near future.

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