CAMEROON – French retail group Carrefour in partnership with CFAO retail is planning to open its 4th store in Douala, Cameroon as part of its strategy to conquer the Sub-Saharan African retail market.

The new outlet to be opened before the end of the year will be the 3rd in Douala, hosted inside the Douala Grand Mall, reports Business in Cameroon.

Carrefour opened its first outlet in the country in 2017 in Bonamoussadi, Douala. In September it opened its second store in the city.

In the framework of its sub-Saharan Africa expansion plan, the retailer intends to open five supermarkets in the country by the end of 2020.

Some of the scheduled stores include its first-ever Supeco shop, specializing in the Cash & Carry concept where people can buy things in bulk.

Supeco will join BAO, the first brand to try the concept in the country in 2018.

In addition to that Carrefour-CFAO Retail are currently building another store at Ekoudou, in front of the Multi-purpose Sports Complex in Yaoundé to be opened in the first quarter of 2021.

The store dubbed Carrefour’s PlaYce superstore is being constructed but completion has delayed due to marshy ground.

With the launch of the PlaYce superstore, Carrefour and CFAO Retail will have completed their first phase of their expansion in Cameroon with an investment of about XAF80 billion (US$134m).

Carrefour intends to open five supermarkets in Cameroon by the end of 2020.

According to Luc Demez (CEO of CFAO Retail Cameroon), since the group started its Cameroonian adventure, it has derived over 70% of its turnover from products which are locally sourced from the agriculture, fishing, breeding, and industrial sectors.

This has been made possible by the retailer establishing and providing support to a network of local producers that supply most of the products it sells.

“Our objective is to make them more professional, improve their production methods, and diversify their production to provide them with new sources of income.

“To date, more than 250 farmers have been supported,” explains Manuel de Rosa, Director of Merchandise and Supply Chain at Cfao Retail Cameroon.

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