Cityscape of fast-growing China (Dalian)

To protect its domestic businesses, the Chinese government has long been strictly limiting foreign-capitalized distribution businesses from entering the Chinese market. However, after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, China has implemented relaxation of many regulations, including import tariff reductions. In response to this, in rapid-fire succession major foreign-capitalized businesses have advanced into the Chinese market from around the world, such as U.S. based Wal-Mart, France based Carrefour, and Metro Group from Germany, resulting in a significantly increased number of large-scale retail stores. Further, the rapid economic development has led to an increase in consumers’ buying power and a dramatic growth of the retail market.

Meanwhile, behind this fast-growing economy, worsening air/water pollution and the ever-increasing consumption of oil and other resources are becoming more serious problems in China. To deal with these situations, the Chinese government is actively taking various actions to reinforce environmental protection, including CO2 emissions reduction and water pollution prevention.

Under these circumstances, the Chinese retail industry is being required to introduce energy-saving store equipment, including refrigerator/freezer food showcases and lighting systems. In particular, electric power consumed by supermarket showcases accounts for a large percentage of energy consumption at stores, and its reduction is a very pressing issue.

Carrefour store in Dalian

Carrefour is a France based major distributor and operates a supermarket chain around the world. It is ranked as the world’s second largest by sales volume. In 1995, Carrefour advanced into the Chinese market and now runs 133 stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Tsingtao, Guangzhou, Dalian etc. In response to the environmental protection policies of the Chinese government and to position themselves apart from the rest, Carrefour has been promoting construction of environment-conscious stores, in which they actively introduce structures, facilities, and equipment, which can save energy and have less impact on the environment. In addition, as part of its initiative for resource-saving, Carrefour promotes its “Bring Your Own Shopping Bag Campaign.” Disposable plastic bags provided by the store are made from petroleum. This campaign contributes to reducing petroleum consumption and plastic bag waste.

Carrefour selected SANYO’s supermarket showcases for their superior quality and extensive after-sales-services, in addition to incorporating world’s leading energy-saving and environmental technologies.

SANYO's supermarket showcases in the frozen food section

The Carrefour Dalian Zhongshan store uses SANYO’s European-style showcases “HL Series.” For this series, instead of using the refrigerant (cooling material) R202A, which is most commonly used for supermarket showcases, SANYO became the first in the industry to use R404A refrigerant, which has a low global warming potential (GWP: a numerical value indicating the level of global warming effect) and a high heat transmission capability. In addition, the HL Series showcases are built with doors to keep cold air from flowing out to the exterior, enabling reduction of power consumption. Further, their appearance was meticulously designed based on the requests from Carrefour. Wood-effect external panels are used to give them a luxurious look. The structure is such that a connection part cover between showcases is not necessary. The corner shape has no projecting portions. Thus, visual harmony with the interior store design has been carefully considered.

SANYO’s supermarket showcases in the meat section

Additionally, SANYO has a system to provide extensive services to meet the diverse needs of customers. As well as assigning a full-time service representative at Carrefour, a call center and a service center network have been set up to ensure fast and reliable servicing. The call center operates 24 hours a day / 365 days a year and the service center network connects 25 major cities, such as Dalian, Beijing, and Shanghai. At the same time, through intensively providing workers with job training, SANYO strives to improve their technical ability and service quality.

SANYO will continue to accelerate sales expansion of environment-conscious supermarket showcases in China where stores are expected to continue to open one after another. For 2009, SANYO is aiming to increase sales by 10% over last year and win an overwhelming No. 1 share. Also, in India and other Southeast Asian countries, sales expansion will be actively promoted. Through offering products to ensure food security/safety and a healthy life, SANYO will continue to promote realization of a comfortable lifestyle for shoppers, and at the same time meet the challenge of realizing symbiotic evolution with the earth through developing products that contribute to environmental conservation.

Mr. Jeff Guo, Grocery Division Manager, Carrefour Dalian Zhongshan Store

Mr. Guo, Grocery Division Manager

As the grocery division manager I am engaged in various tasks, including purchasing merchandise, ordering refrigerator/freezer showcases for displaying merchandise, doing sales analysis, and managing workers. SANYO's supermarket showcases are high in quality and low in failure rate. They are also excellent from the functional aspect, such as fine-tuned temperature control being possible by doing a simple operation. Further, they use less resources and electric power so that their low level of impact on the environment is also a significant feature. I expect SANYO to further advance research and development in the future so as to create more products which are high-performance and eco-friendly.