Carrefour Israel Ends Subsidized Basket Initiative to Launch New Discounts
Carrefour Israel is ending its six-month participation in Economy Minister Nir Barkat's subsidized "Israel Basket" initiative, replacing it with a nationwide year-round discount campaign.
Carrefour Israel is ending its six-month run of the "Israel Basket" initiative, a project spearheaded by Economy Minister Nir Barkat. The decision follows a move by CEO Inbal Harson, first reported by Calcalist, not to exercise the option of extending the discounted basket for another six months in exchange for a state-funded public campaign costing 25 million shekels. Harson announced that immediately following the conclusion of the minister's project, the chain will launch a nationwide campaign branded "Carrefour Special Deal," which will run year-round across all branches.
A New Strategy for Ongoing Discounts
Calcalist has learned that as the chain works to remove all branding materials for the discounted basket, it has begun promoting the new price-cutting initiative to retain customers who might otherwise reassess their shopping habits. One of the main goals of Harson's new strategy is to surprise consumers frequently by rotating the list of discounted products. This comes as a lesson learned from the previous fixed discount basket, which lost consumer interest after several weeks.
"The new campaign is designed to create sustained engagement and address the shortcomings of the previous government-backed initiative, offering dynamic discounts across all store formats," industry sources noted.
Under the new plan, Carrefour will offer 10 to 15 leading products twice a month at roughly a 30% discount off the catalog price. Unlike Barkat's basket, which excluded toiletries and cosmetics, these items will now be an integral part of the promotional lists. Furthermore, while Barkat's basket was limited to 50 out of 144 branches, the new promotions will be available in all branches nationwide, with product selections tailored to neighborhood stores versus market and hypermarket formats.
Expanded Selection and Pricing Mechanics
Discount stores will offer twice as many discounted items as neighborhood branches, where prices may be 1 to 4 shekels higher per item. Additionally, the chain will offer a select few items, changing twice a month, sold at a deep, uniform discount across all branches and sub-chains. For the upcoming two weeks, Elite Turkish coffee will be sold for 12.9 shekels, matching the price in Barkat's basket. The campaign will also feature Casa Verde extra virgin olive oil at 15.9 shekels—cheaper than Yad Mordechai olive oil, which was sold in the basket for 27.9 shekels. Other discounted goods include Mama Mia frozen pizza from Maadanot for 10 shekels per unit and Tnuva frozen salmon fillets for 69.9 shekels per kilogram.
These discounts will require a minimum purchase of 99 shekels, and consumers will be able to buy up to six units of each promotional item, compared to the strict limit of two units per customer under Barkat's plan. Alongside these promotions, Carrefour will review its catalog prices over the next two weeks and lower them to match competitor pricing, ensuring that the 100 products featured in Barkat's basket do not return to their previous higher price points unless suppliers have raised costs.
