Wal-Mart and Carrefour put Brazil in their displays
Valor Econômico - 06/12/2008
Have you ever been to Brazil? No ? So, let's go. In a quite uncommon attitude for foreign companies, the World's two biggest retail companies Wal-Mart and Carrefour invited analysts from foreign banks and international investors to visit the country, which has become a showcase after the investment grade given by the risk classification agencies. This week, 55 analysts of investments and foreign investitors are in São Paulo at the invitation of Carrefour's head executive José Luís Durán. And one of the places visited by these oracles of the world financial market will be a store from Atacadão, a chain purchased by the French multinational last year, in Vila Maria district, in the North Zone of the capital of São Paulo. Wal-Mart was literal in following composer Dorival Caymmi's advice : «Have you ever been to Bahia?" The American company took foreign analysts to Salvador, where the company acquired the Bompreço group in 2004 and is the leader in supermarkets. The shape of the stores that target the low-income population have become the biggest atraction of the supermarkets chain. Atacadão, for example, is a model of low-cost and low-price stores created in Brazil that mixes wholesale and retail (fractionized packages). In this moment when inflation is increasing all over the world, pressed by oil and foods, the discount stores have become the salvation of the retail stores. Those stores put Wal-Mart, in the United States, in the way of atracting more consumers this year and show results above the investors' expectations.