CARREFOUR STEPS UP SOCIAL COMMERCE STRATEGY BY TAPPING BRUT’S 70 MILLION USERS

Global food retailer Carrefour has established a joint venture called Brut. Shop with French digital media company Brut, with the aim of becoming a leader in social commerce/live shopping in France.

Last year, the grocery-to-electricals group – with €78.6 billion revenue in 2020 – ran nearly 50 live shopping events but the new tie-up will be on a much grander scale. The Brut. Shop website will enable users to make online purchases, while taking part in frequent video events live-streamed on social networks and likely fronted by social influencers. No launch date for the site has been announced yet.

The joint venture will be majority owned by Brut, claimed to be Europe’s leading live shopping event organiser with 70 million users. Brut accounts for 39% of the media market on social networks in France and say it reaches everybody between the ages of 18 and 34.

Carrefour customers express strong interest

In France, 60% of Carrefour customers say they are interested in live shopping. In additon, the company says that fast-moving consumer goods brands “indicate that they are interested in these sessions” as they are a recruiting tool to reach young customers and increase engagement.

Elodie Perthuisot, Carrefour Group’s executive director of e-commerce, data and digital transformation, commented: “Brut and Carrefour are creating the first community of live shoppers in Europe. Our aim is to develop the most powerful social commerce platform on the French market.”

Whether this new community shopping experience can generate growth and value for both companies remains to be seen – but the outlook is positive. Social commerce is one one of the big drivers of e-commerce. It takes advantage of the current consumer obsession with social media and the desire to interact with brands.

A $1.2 trillion market

According to Accenture, the social commerce market is worth almost $500 billion and set to hit $1.2 by 2025. The high growth is being buoyed by widespread use as a purchasing solution by Millennials and Gen Z.

Live shopping is popular in China where, in 2020, 65% of consumers had already used it to order at least one product. In the US, live shopping platforms are also gaining ground as dozens of live shopping events are staged every day. Major social networks are now in the process of adding features and functions so that consumers can make their purchases in one click directly from their websites.

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