French retailer Carrefour will soon start to offer holidays in Belgium as well. The supermarket chain already expanded its traditional offer earlier with its own mobile phone plans, loans and payment cards. According to retail expert Jorg Snoeck, this trend will further intensify – at other supermarkets as well.
Successful in France
Several supermarket chains already offer holidays in France, like Leclerc and Lidl. Customers can purchase the trips in-store as well as online. More than a million French citizens go on a holiday each year by booking at a supermarket.
Carrefour will soon launch such a service in Belgium as well, but for now, the retailer does not want to disclose any details. “We will communicate at the end of November”, they told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
Busy places
According to retail expert Jorg Snoeck, supermarkets are increasingly evolving into platforms, which in addition to food, also offer all kinds of services such as mobile phone plans, credit – and now, travel. “Supermarkets are now among the last places that a vast number of people still frequent. After all, even nowadays, in these online times, there will still be hungry people who frequently visit the supermarket to fill up the fridge. So it’s the ideal environment for selling other things as well.”
Supermarkets are set to offer more different kinds of products in the future. Success is not automatically guaranteed: Colruyt once tried to sell cars in collaboration with Cardoen, a Belgian car dealer. “Maybe it was too early for that at the time, but there is no reason why another chain could not do the same one day. The road is paved for more possibilities.”
Last summer, Delhaize expanded its offering with around thirty popular Decathlon sports items. For the time being, there are no plans to sell travels, spokesperson Roel Dekelver says. The retailer does indicate, however, that it is constantly on the lookout for new opportunities.
