Customers shop at a Carrefour store in Beijing on Monday. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Supermarket chain Carrefouron Tuesday denied online speculation that the company is facing bankruptcy and will withdraw from the Chinese market, after a number of consumers lodged complaints in recent daysclaiming they were unable to pay with the supermarket’s shopping and value cards, with some interpreting it as a sign of the retail company’s massive closure wave.

“The supermarket supports multiple payment methods, including Wechat, Alipay, bank card and cash, and consumers are able to buy most items using shopping cards,” a spokesperson from Carrefour said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Tuesday. It also called consumers to “make rational spending choices and not believe or spread rumors.”

Since late December, many consumers have lodgedcomplaints on China’s social media, claiming that they were unable to purchase items in Carrefour supermarkets usingshopping cards, which the retail giant attributed to a“system upgrade.” As the news further spread, many consumers have been rushing to Carrefour stores, looking to use up their shopping cards over fears that the supermarkets will soon shut down. 

A Beijing-based resident, who went to the supermarket on Monday night to “spend the most” of her shopping card, told the Global Times that the itemsavailable for shopping card purchase were quite limited, and she only ended up purchasing a few bottles of wineand kitchenwareafter a four-hour wait at the checkout counter. 

“The supermarket is extremely crowded with panickedcustomerslike me and there are lots of empty shelves in the supermarket,” said the resident who prefers not to be identified. According to her, consumers at the supermarket are still unable to buy most of daily necessities such as milks and snacks with shopping cards.

On social media and e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu, many Chinese consumers also shared similar experiences. Some even questioned whether the company was marking up the price of certain commodities available for shopping card purchase. 

According to Carrefour’s statement, the company is “optimizing its supply chain and will continue providing consumers with more diversified goods” under the support and coordination of multiple suppliers and groups. 

It nevertheless acknowledgedin the statement that the retail industry is “facing unprecedented challenges” due to the impact of epidemic, and Carrefour is “making an active transformation and upgrading to tackle with the challenges.”

In the first half of 2022, Carrefour closed 24 stores across China without opening any new locations, according to a report by jiemian.com, citing financial report of Suning.com. And in the first three quarters of 2022, it closed 54 stores, and that shrank the total number of Carrefour supermarkets in China to 151, down from 205 at the end of 2021. 

The supermarket chain has been expanding its business lines in recent years, including bracing for new retail models. “We have been in the Chinese market for 28 years, and the development has always been accompanied with growth of Chinese retail industry and changes of consumer demands. We will continue exploring the Chinese market to provide the best service,” Carrefour said.