Is a French international hypermarket chain supplying groceries and consumer goods. The S. A. Stands for ‘Socio©t© Anomy, which when literally translated means anonymous society. But in English, this type of company is more commonly known as a public limited company. The company was founded in 1959 by Marcel Fourier, Denis Differed and Jacques Differed.
Careful is the one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world but the second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue and third largest in profit after Wall-Mart and Tests. Careful operates mainly in Europe, Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia and in the Dominican Republic, but also has shops in North Africa and other parts of Asia. European hypermarkets account for 70% of Carouser’s total sales. The company currently operates four main grocery store formats: hypermarkets, supermarkets, hard discount and convenience stores.
The Careful group currently has over 15,500 stores, either company-operated or franchises and employs more than 490,000 people. Coincidently, the first Careful store opened on June 3, 1959, in suburban Enhance, near a crossroads. Today, Careful offers more than 3,700 organic products in its hypermarkets worldwide.
The company supports local suppliers, with some 90-95% of the products on its shelves sourced locally, depending on the country. Carouser’s strategy is “The Careful group has one simple ambition: making Careful the preferred retailer wherever it operates. This strategy means having the trust f customers: trust in product quality, price and service.
It means being able to satisfy and anticipate customer needs which is proven true as in France alone, Careful has 12 million loyalty card-holders. Careful offers online shopping in several of the countries from which it operates including a wide selection of services – such as home delivery and in-store or in-warehouse collection – are available to customers. As Careful is a retailer, its most common products are foodstuffs, including oil, biscuits, milk, pasta, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish as well as a variety of snacks.
A brand under the Careful label named ‘Take, which is part of its hypermarket segment, is modernizing its identity and image, offering clothing for all lifestyle needs, including urban, casual, sportswear and maternity lines. Careful offers a selection of products for preparing meals, including a generous assortment of fresh produce and a butchers department. Careful is specially designed to meet the needs of a highly mobile urban clientele with two main areas: ready-to-eat products and daily items.
The strong points of the assortment include the presence of major brands, a special focus on regional DOD brands, and the development of ethnic and imported assortments to match the lifestyles and realities of the population of today. The company is very committed to its staff, as in 2007, 1 16,000 training sessions were held, representing 730,000 hours of instruction. Management by objective and modern internal communications systems motivate the teams to strive for excellence in service on a day-to-day basis.
Sustainable development is a key part of the company’s strategy. Its large size and strong economic and corporate integration make it a key player in society. Careful shot to prominence very quickly in China’s retail market, stealing the thunder of arch competitor Wall-Mart, taking a strong initial lead among the foreign retailers in the grocery market.
It identifies at a specific point in time, the value of the assets controlled by the enterprise as well as the entities that have claims (creditors, founders ND owners) over those assets. It presents the accounting ‘net worth’ of the enterprise Income statement It identifies the revenues earned over a particular period and the expenses incurred in earning that revenue. It presents the net income for the enterprise, which demonstrates its financial sustainability.
It identifies the inflow and outflow of cash over a particular period. It presents the cash flow from the enterprise’s operating, investing, and financing activities. It demonstrates the source and application of funds and the ability of the enterprise to pay its bills as they become due.
This part of the financial statement represents changes in retained earnings during the period. Uses of financial statements Stakeholders to assess the financial position and performance of an enterprise use financial statements. These stakeholders may be internal or external to the enterprise. The information provided by the financial statement help support their decisions and actions in relation to the enterprise.
A management tool Managers use financial statements as a tool to manage the business, in order o measure the operating performance in terms of profitability and return on invested capital. They use it to measure operating efficiency, asset turnover, liquidity, and solvency assisting them to manage day-to-day activities and evaluate potential credit customers and suppliers.
Financial statements help the directors to review the performance of management. Board of directors is the stakeholders who set the strategic direction and objectives of the company. In addition, they require managers to achieve these. Financial statement helps allows board of directors to review the reference of management in relation to the achievement of objectives.
Decision making tool of financial institution: Financial institution supply funds to organizations on short or long-term basis i. E. Short terms overdraft, invoice financing of debtors, term loans for expansion plans. Thus, financial statements help them to decide whether to grant a company with working capital or extent debt security to finance expansion or significant expenditure.
Benchmark for the competitors Competitors are the stakeholders who compete for customers in the same market. They use financial statement to bench mark their own financial results to identify variances to target for improvements or exploit as an opportunity. Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis of Careful Analysis of strengths and weaknesses is carried out on 2010 results. Annual report is not yet published on website but some financial were launched in the form of presentation and pre-release on company website.
The Careful group a world leader in distribution Over the past 40 years, the Careful group has grown to become one of the oral’s leading distribution groups, second-largest retailer and the largest in Europe, the Careful group currently owns 15,937 stores, either company- operated or franchises around the world mainly in France, Europe, Latin America& Asia.
This in turn helps the group to market itself as most preferred international retailer for household needs. International presence also provides the group competitive advantage in terms of economy of scale. The group currently operates in five retail formats: hypermarkets, supermarkets, hard discount, convenience stores and cash & carry.
Hypermarket help client a wide range of food and non-food products, super market and convenience stores helps consumer to meet daily needs and more accessible than hyper markets, hard discount store offers products with low price than market and cash & carry helps meeting needs of small retailer. The group also sells many products through its e-commerce website which also enhances client’s accessibility to its products. This strategy helps the group to attract customers of various ranges and groups.
