Carrefour has emerged from its megamerger with Promodès as a more flexible multi-format retailer with a leading position in the European grocery market, according to new research from IGD. The old Carrefour was primarily an international hypermarket operator with a European presence limited to France and Spain, claims IGD in its new report, Carrefour ­ A Strategic Review. The new Carrefour has developed expertise in supermarkets and hard discount after inheriting a raft of smaller stores from Promodès. It is consequently now in a position to export them to markets such as China, where it has so far concentrated on hypermarkets. "The hypermarket is no longer the main focus of Carrefour's strategy," says the report. "This opens up further possibilities for the group to grow both organically and through acquisitions." The management also recognises that Carrefour needs to develop significant local scale in existing key markets in the medium term if it is to avoid spreading itself too thinly. In the short term, it should reinvest savings made from increased efficiency into maintaining its aggressive pricing and marketing campaigns in France and Spain to regain market share lost during the merger. {{NEWS }}