Carrefour plunges into India, putting all manner of corner markets at risk. It follows Wal-Mart, which opened its first store in the north last year.
For now, supermarkets account for only 5% of grocery sales in India, where middlemen rule. Laws prevent outsiders from coming in.
But that will inevitably change, not because of the big, bad foreign hypermarkets, but because India's emerging and voluminous middle class will demand more than one brand of rice at one price. Already, Wal-Mart plans a dozen more stores and reports very positive noises coming from the bureaucracy on this subject. Why? A government-sponsored study said that the small shops, when presented with such challenge, lost a lot in the first year but then recovered, presumably by selling differently to maintain their niche rather than their monopoly.
Long-term project by Wal-Mart and Carrefour. Only the deep-pocketed should apply.
But serious profits await for the stubborn and persistent.