Carrefour quits Jordan over anti-Israel boycott

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"Carrefour will cease all its operations in Jordan and will not continue to operate within the Kingdom,” the French retail giant said.

Following a boycott of Carrefour in Jordan in protest against its supermarket chain in Israel, the French retail giant has closed all its stores in the Hashemite Kingdom, Carrefour Jordan has announced on its Facebook page, which has 1.1 million followers. "Carrefour will cease all its operations in Jordan and will not continue to operate within the Kingdom," the Facebook statement said.

"We thank our customers for their support and apologize for any inconvenience this decision may cause," Carrefour added. The post received 8,000 likes and 3,500 responses, mainly celebrating the decision. One response said, "A lot of people are happy with this decision," and another said, "Allah will close all your stores." Another wrote that Allah would compensate all the people who had lost their jobs."

Carrefour's decision came in the wake of an orchestrated campaign by the BDS movement over the past year calling on Jordanian consumers to boycott the chain's stores. The campaign was clearly reflected in a significant decline in sales and profits.

This is the first country that has closed down Carrefour's activities following a boycott, which will certainly raise concern for the French owners, although it is likely that in Israel more Israeli consumers will enter the Carrefour branches to demonstrate solidarity, because the BDS-led boycott is designed to exert pressure on international companies perceived as supportive of Israel.

Carrefour opened its first outlets in Israel in May 2023 through local franchisee Electra Consumer Products (TASE: ECP). BDS began protesting in 2022 after Carrefour announced it was entering Israel and demanded it break its franchise agreement and refrain from selling products from settlements in Judea and Samaria. The campaign against Carrefour went up a few gears after the October 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas.

What further infuriated the BDS movement was that Electra Consumer Products has provided free packages to IDF soldiers during the war. BDS insists that since opening Carrefour Israel has suffered significant financial losses and it has called on the international company to examine continued activity in the country, even though in recent quarters, the investment has begun to bear fruit with reduced losses and increasing sales.

Today Carrefour opened its 108th store in Israel in Daliyat El-Carmel as it seeks to attract consumers in the Druze community as well as the haredi community. On Friday Carrefour will open its 109th store in Eilat. Later in November, the chain will open three more stores in Bat Yam, Tel Kabir and Netanya.

Worldwide Carrefour has 14,000 stores in 50 countries, which reported sales of €94 billion in 2023.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 5, 2024.

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