To support this, Carrefour has introduced a framework to guide participation without limiting it. The company began by training a group of employees to communicate online more effectively. It has since expanded its efforts by sharing weekly content guidelines with stores. These outline current themes, highlight promotions and suggest relevant trends or music that can be used in posts. The intention is to provide direction while leaving room for personal adaptation.

This balance between central coordination and store-level autonomy is key. Individual outlets are encouraged to tailor content to their own customers, reflecting local demand and stock availability. In practice, this means that products featured online are typically available in-store, reducing the risk of disappointing customers who arrive after a viral post.

Carrefour emphasises that participation must remain voluntary and responsible. Employees are expected to follow clear guidelines to ensure content remains appropriate and aligned with the brand.

The approach reflects a broader shift in retail communication. By enabling employees to create content while providing structure behind the scenes, Carrefour is turning everyday store activity into a practical marketing tool that connects directly with shoppers.

What sets the model apart is the level of personalisation built into the interaction. The system can suggest recipes and meal ideas tailored to dietary preferences, household needs and budget. Where a request is generic, it defaults to the most economical option, but it will switch to specific brands if the customer asks, adjusting choices dynamically within the chat.

Eroski is positioning the initiative as a response to shifting consumer expectations, where speed and convenience are increasingly non-negotiable. Industry data backs this up: digital touchpoints now influence a large majority of grocery purchases, even when the final transaction happens elsewhere. Time saving, rather than price, is often the primary driver for using online channels.

The choice of WhatsApp is also strategic. With billions of users globally and strong adoption across age groups, including older consumers, it offers a familiar and accessible platform. By embedding shopping into a daily communication tool, Eroski is aiming to lower barriers to entry and broaden digital engagement. The year-long pilot across nine stores will assess customer uptake and operational performance. 

QR codes structured to GS1 standards can encode batch, date and serialised information, enabling far greater precision in inventory management and recalls. Retailers can isolate affected batches rather than entire product lines, while dynamic data opens the door to improved stock rotation and waste reduction. In addition, the new codes offer consumers, through a smartphone scan, access to extra data like ingredients, allergens, and traceability.

The industry consensus continues to favour a dual-marking period, where 1D and 2D codes coexist to ensure interoperability during the transition. 

Tesco’s move therefore acts as a practical benchmark rather than an outlier. It indicates that Sunrise 2027 is no longer a distant systems deadline but an active transformation underway, with early adopters beginning to define how quickly the rest of the European market will follow.

Retailers are responding with targeted expansion and increasingly differentiated concepts. Chains such as Carrefour have built extensive networks of compact urban stores, now numbering in the thousands, reflecting the scalability of the model. In the UK, Tesco is prioritising smaller “Express” formats over large stores, recognising their stronger economics and alignment with urban shopping patterns.

Elsewhere, innovation is accelerating. In Germany, Rewe is testing fully automated neighbourhood formats such as the nahkauf Box, offering 24-hour, staffless access to a curated range of essentials in rural communities. The group is also expanding on-the-go concepts like Rewe Express at petrol stations, combining grocery retail with foodservice to meet demand from customers on the move.

In Spain, DIA has rebuilt its business around dense networks of small neighbourhood stores, while in Belgium and France, Intermarché and Coopérative U are rolling out urban convenience formats tailored to local catchments and high-footfall locations. These formats are increasingly designed around fresh, ready-to-eat and purpose driven shopping.

At the same time, the convenience model itself is evolving. The boundaries between retail and foodservice are blurring, with stores integrating meal solutions, snacking and services into a single proposition. This hybridisation reflects a broader convergence of consumer needs, where shopping, eating and services are seamlessly combined.

Despite strong momentum, the sector faces challenges. Rising operating costs, pressure on traditional categories and intensifying competition, particularly from discounters moving into neighbourhood locations, are testing profitability. Nevertheless, the direction of travel is clear: proximity retail has become a cornerstone of Europe’s grocery landscape, redefining both convenience and customer expectations.

European retail spending exceeded €4.5 trillion in 2025, growing by €162 billion, or 3.7%. The Top 50 retailers captured €103 billion of this increase—around 64% of total growth—raising their combined share of consumer spending to 41%.

Although ecommerce players recorded faster growth rates overall, no physical retail segment matched the scale and consistency of grocery. The concentration of grocers in the upper tier of the rankings illustrates the sector’s defensive strength, even amid subdued real-term growth and inflationary pressures.

According to the Retail Cities European Top 50 Report, the findings point to a dual dynamic in European retail: rapid innovation at the top, led by Amazon, alongside enduring market power among large grocery operators that continue to anchor the industry.

In the UK, Tesco and Sainsbury's have both introduced health services ranging from pharmacy counters to opticians and, in some locations, GP-style clinics operated with third-party providers. Meanwhile, Boots, often co-located with grocery, continues to deepen its healthcare offer, piloting in-store weight-loss clinics in a dozen locations, highlighting the growing convergence between food, pharmacy and primary care.

France provides further examples. Carrefour has invested in in-store clinics and telemedicine solutions, enabling customers to consult healthcare professionals while shopping. The retailer has also emphasised preventive health through nutrition scoring and tailored product recommendations.

In Germany, dm-drogerie markt has expanded wellness services, including in-store consultations and a broad offer spanning nutrition, supplements and personal care, blurring the lines between drugstore and health hub.

These developments point to a structural shift: stores are evolving into local service centres where food, health advice and lifestyle support intersect. For retailers, this creates new revenue streams and deeper customer relationships. For consumers, it offers accessible, everyday touchpoints for managing health, often embedded within routine shopping journeys.

For grocery businesses, the app’s influence is no longer theoretical. Yuka now counts tens of millions of users globally, and its scoring system is actively shaping purchasing decisions at shelf level. In France, manufacturers have already reformulated products to avoid poor ratings, particularly by reducing additives, sugar and salt. Domestic retailer Intermarché just announced that starting in spring, it will display Yuka ratings for all of its 6,000 private label products on its online ordering service. 

A notable recent development is its growing impact in the United States, now one of its fastest-growing markets, with tens of millions of users and rising influence on major brands. This transatlantic expansion is creating a feedback loop: European-style transparency expectations are increasingly affecting US product development, while multinational FMCG companies face consistent scrutiny across markets.

The broader trend is clear. Yuka and similar systems are effectively acting as informal regulators, simplifying complex nutritional science into a single score that can sway consumer choice instantly. For grocers and suppliers, this raises both risk and opportunity: poor scores can damage sales, while cleaner formulations and transparency can become a competitive advantage in an increasingly health-driven retail environment.

The interest of franchisees lies in increasing sales and profit margins, which is facilitated by Carrefour’s private label products. Its own brand products currently account for a relatively small share of sales in emerging markets, approximately 5-6% in food and up to 10% including non food. However, these categories are expected to grow, particularly in non food segments such as textiles and home and household goods, where demand is strong.

Africa is a primary growth engine. Carrefour plans to operate in 22 African countries by 2030, up from 14 today, with rapid expansion in markets such as Morocco, Egypt, Ivory Coast, and Ethiopia. Recent partnerships in Guinea, Ghana, and Congo highlight the pace of rollout.

While the strategy offers scale and sourcing advantages, it is not without challenges. Success depends heavily on finding capable local partners and navigating geopolitical risks that can disrupt supply chains.

Industry stakeholders have broadly welcomed the guidance as a step toward greater legal certainty, though some ambiguity remains. The clarification of roles across the value chain is seen as especially relevant for aligning responsibilities between brand owners, manufacturers, and retailers.

However, industry associations caution that the guidance does not resolve all operational and financial challenges posed by the PPWR. Companies newly classified as manufacturers from August 2026 onward are urged to fully comply with their obligations. For private label stakeholders, the message is clear: reassess roles, ensure compliance readiness, and prepare for increased accountability in packaging design and lifecycle management.

The system combines pictograms, colours and text and sets out specifications for label dimensions, placement and accessibility. Under the proposal, each label would indicate one material category, meaning composite packaging might require multiple symbols. Alternatives such as QR codes are also discussed for packaging where physical labels are less feasible.

Industry reactions have been mixed. Some trade associations argue that extensive use of colour and language on labels could undermine harmonisation and reintroduce barriers to the internal market, contrary to PPWR objectives. They advocate simpler, pictogram‑centred systems to reduce compliance costs and cross‑border complexity.

For businesses planning packaging redesigns beyond 2026, early consideration of the forthcoming harmonised label is increasingly advised. With the visual system largely defined and a formal implementing act expected later this year, companies that defer preparation may find themselves at a disadvantage.