Carrefour quits Jordan over anti-Israel boycott

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

Carrefour added: “We thank our customers for their support and apologize for any inconvenience this decision may cause.” The post received 8,000 likes and 3,500 replies, mainly celebrating the decision. One response said: “Many people are happy with this decision,” and another said: “God will close all your stores.” Another wrote that God will compensate all the people who lost their jobs.

Carrefour’s decision came in the wake of a coordinated campaign carried out by the Boycott Movement (BDS) over the past year that called 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 to close Carrefour activities after the boycott, which will certainly cause concern for the French owners, although it is likely that more Israeli consumers in Israel will enter Carrefour branches to show solidarity, since the BDS-led boycott was designed to exercise Pressure on international companies seen as supportive of Israel.

Carrefour opened its first outlet in Israel in May 2023 through local franchisee Electra Consumer Products (TASE: ECP). The BDS movement began protesting in 2022 after Carrefour announced its entry into Israel and demanded that it violate its concession agreement and refrain from selling products from settlements in Judea and Samaria. The campaign against Carrefour escalated somewhat after the massacre committed by Hamas against Israelis on October 7.

What angered the BDS movement was that consumer products company Electra provided free packages to IDF soldiers during the war. The boycott movement insists that since the opening of Carrefour Israel it has incurred significant financial losses, and called on the international company to study the ongoing activity in the country, although the investment has begun to bear fruit in recent quarters with declining losses and increasing sales.

Today, Carrefour opened its 108th store in Israel in Daliyat al-Carmel as part of its effort to attract consumers from 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 recorded sales of €94 billion in 2023.

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on November 5, 2024.

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