Written on 9 January 2014. Revised and updated on 9 July 2025 The fact that Carrefour is leaving Italy comes as no surprise to me at all: the subsidiary was not strategic, given that the French head office is in difficulty and is cutting out the ‘dead wood’. And it has made many mistakes, which I highlight in this article. This seems to be a case of reverse marketing. We’re talking about a highly prestigious company that seems to have lost its way over the years. And this , unfortunately , is evident not only in the share price trend from the 1990s to the present day, but also to the consumer, at a glance. Above, you can see the sign for the Carrefour Express on Viale Pasubio in Milan Below is the one on Via Fontana, also in Milan (the article was written in 2014 but the sign still looks the same, even in 2021). The background has turned black and the name ‘Carrefour’ no longer appearson the sign. Whilst the differentiation between hypermarkets (Carrefour Planet), supermarkets (Carrefour Market) and mini-markets (Carrefour Express) – with different coloured signs to distinguish each format in terms of products and prices – certainly made sense, this latest move does not, in our view, help with brand recognition, not least because the ‘C’ in the logo is not easily legible at first glance. This change has not yet been implemented on the signs of Carrefour Market stores, formerly GS The omission of the name ‘Carrefour’ from the sign on Via Fontana is puzzling, althoughI had already noticed several changestothe branding in the leaflets recently. The Carrefour website, under the ‘own-brand’ section, shows differences in the approach to the various ranges. Those highlighted do not feature the pictogram with the ‘C’. Perhaps it isn’t on the website but we do find it on the products themselves; this is the case, for example, with Carrefour Bio. Returning to Via Fontana, the mini-market is rather nice. It also offers a range of services, highlighted in the shop window: including a bread corner: where you weigh the bread yourself and then pay at the till. Carrefour’s product range spans from organic to discount items. With the Carrefour name and the ‘C’ pictogram, which ranges from brown to blue (below) at other times, as with the yoghurt, the logo disappears and one wonders, ‘are these special products (?)’. In reality, these are products tested by a consumer panel but when you come across the paper tissues, you wonder: ‘Why?’ (is there no pictogram?) On the bags, below, it is there. Surely because they form part of the group’s range of hypermarkets, supermarkets and mini-markets. The pictogram, featuring the French tricolour, also appears on loyalty cards – see below – for the same reasons: the card is probably shared across the group’s three retail chains (hypermarkets, supermarkets and mini-markets) Every now and then, the old logo reappears in some detail, such as on this vase at the Carrefour Market on Via Farini in Milan… but the mystery surrounding the name’s removal from the sign on Via Fontana remains unsolved, as does the great confusion over the brands and colours of the various Carrefour outlets. It is no coincidence that Carrefour’s Italian rivals have grown over time, partly at the expense of this brand. “De nominibus et coloribus non est disputandum?” (Are names and colours not to be disputed?) Judging by what happens at airports or even at motorway service stations, as mentioned above, one might say so; the change in colour isn’t very easy to understand, but at least there, with the orange (!), the name ‘Carrefour’ is still there! It is worth noting that Carrefour is launching the ‘Extra’ range, but nobody knows about it. Not even its own staff; whilst it is clear that the brands in Carrefour’s stores have changed since 2014, the sense of confusion and wasted effort , in a company that is not doing particularly well, remains. In this regard, you can also read about what happened with Carrefour Eat and Shop and formats that have been shut down and abandoned, such as Carrefour Urban Life. Also worth noting is the latest experiment, with Carrefour Terre d’Italia. P.S.: These initiatives have also been observed in France, whilst the group’s turnover was ‘inflated’ by inflation and driven by its Brazilian subsidiary. Below: a Carrefour supporting Gay Pride in 2022 – a commendable initiative, but one that risks creating further confusion because “either you do it everywhere – in all Carrefour stores – or you’ve just added some colour… and management problems”.
