Shufersal CEO: Carrefour is Yeinot Bitan in disguise

• Published date: 02 June 2023
• Author: Shira Sapir
• Publication title: Globes (Rishon LeZion, Israel)

In the ten months since then, Watermann has had to steer his way through a very difficult market. More moderated price rises have returned like a boomerang in the last two months, with an unprecedented wave of price hikes, partly from Tnuva. Two weeks ago Shufersal also had to deal with the sticker storm at the Be pharmacy branch in Bnei Brak, in which women's faces were hidden on the store's products. And if that was not enough, this month 50 branches of the international food giant Carrefour were launched in Israel, with a strong private brand and a promise to compete with the big chains

How worried are you that Carrefour can bring a price revolution?

"Carrefour hasn't really entered the Israeli market. It's Yeinot Bitan disguised as Carrefour. It gave its name and its franchise to Yeinot Bitan, a problematic loss-making chain that has been trying to rebuild itself for many years. I respect all rivals, but Carrefour is another chain that has a lot to prove. If the CEO of the global company really wanted to enter Israel, he would invest money here, take a risk. Carrefour has not invested a single euro here, it only has the possibility of profiting from the commission it charges on the turnover and the sales of the private brand. The franchise it gave is worthy, and nice. In the world this is a good and interesting network, but there are many more like it. We will manage."

Nevertheless, you organized a launch event for your Cash & Carry wholesale outlet in Ashdod exactly on the same day Carrefour launched in Israel. What happened there? Was it an attempt to spite them?

"Shufersal has more than 400 stores. We opened stores almost every week. One week it's an Express branch, the next week a Deal outlet, Be, Stock or Cash & Carry. A month or two before the event the CEO of the subsidiaries opened his diary and that was the date chosen. It's a coincidence that journalists love to make a story out of. When we were contacted for a comment, we laughed. It is also immaterial. Not relevant to look at them at all. If I decided to respond to their launch, I would do something much more significant. Believe me. This is Shufersal. I would not launch a Cash & Carry store. From what I hear, the people at Carrefour say they want to be Shufersal.

"I think that I will have succeeded in this job if I can convince both you and the capital market that Shufersal is a different company from the competition. There is no rival that invests NIS 600-700 million a year in...