Carrefour’s wholly-owned Dia convenience store chain is set to make a foray into China’s Anhui province after signing a deal with the local player Everyone International to open multiple Dia stores there.
Dia plans to open two new flagship stores in Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui, next month, and will launch up to 10 outlets in the eastern Chinese province before the end of the year, according to China Retail News. Next year, it plans to open 30 chain stores in Hefei and expand to 17 cities across Anhui.
The expansion into Anhui marks a leap forward for Dia in China, where it already operates some 380 stores in Shanghai, Beijing, Shandong, Hebei and Jiangsu. Established in Spain in 1979, Dia currently has 25,000 employees in 4,500 stores in Spain, Portugal, France, Greece, Argentina, Brazil and China. It has made rapid gains since entering the China market with its first store in Shanghai in 2003.
Based at Hefei Tongchuang Science and Technology Park, Anhui Everyone International boasts significant infrastructure, with its own digital call centre, telephone marketing system, CRM and ERP software and production and logistics base. Backed by a 200-strong team, it focuses on the development and operation of emerging shopping systems and it launched an e-commerce website Ah8.cc in cooperation with Anhuinews.com in March this year.
