PARIS, April 22 (Reuters) - French Carrefour
The Carrefour Discount range of 400 day-to-day items, of which 83 percent are food stuffs such as orange juice, green beans and minced beef steaks, will be launched at supermarkets and hypermarkets in France from the end of May.
Carrefour is trying to shed its image as a more expensive retailer to keep customers as they seek to control spending.
"Managing spending and budgets is a real problem. The consumer today has a real spending power problem," executive director of Carrefour France, Gilles Petit, told reporters on Wednesday.
The group's first-quarter sales fell 5.1 percent in France, which accounted for about 42 percent of the total. Like-for-like sales excluding fuel at its French hypermarkets fell 2.5 percent.
The company is seeking to increase the amount of own brand products, which have higher margins, in its French stores to 50 percent in three years from around 40 percent currently, Petit said, adding Carrefour was willing to see margins ease slightly at its new discount range in order to win sales volumes.
It is also opening convenience stores under the Carrefour City and Contact formats that are closer to customers. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Dan Lalor)