太原家乐福店被指价格欺诈

Authorities in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan accused Carrefour SA of price fraud, muddying the retailer's growth plans in the country.

中国北部城市太原市有关部门指控家乐福(Carrefour SA)价格欺诈，搅乱了该零售商的在华扩张计划。

Through a spokesman, the Taiyuan Bureau of Price Supervision and Inspection said Tuesday it had uncovered cases where Carrefour charged consumers higher prices at checkout than were advertised on shelves. The bureau plans to file a report to a commission that has the power to investigate further and levy fines.

太原市物价局周二通过发言人说，已查明家乐福存在收银台向消费者收取的价格高于货架上标明价格的情况。太原市物价局计划向一个有权开展进一步调查和征收罚款的委员会提交报告。

Carrefour apologized to its customers for 'an unintentional working mistake' and said it is checking its pricing practices at its Taiyuan store.

家乐福就“一个无心所致的工作失误向顾客致歉，并且说正在检查太原店的定价行为。

'Carrefour has a national commitment to reimburse our customer with 5 times the price difference, in case any mistake of this kind happens in a store,' the company said in a written statement.

家乐福在一份书面声明中说，家乐福承诺，若在华任何一家门店出现此类失误，将向顾客按差价的五倍进行补偿。

The French retailer is trying to boost its business in the world's largest grocery market, where it has been losing ground in recent years. Its share of sales in China's fragmented and highly competitive market for megagrocery retailers fell to 8.1% last year from 9.1% in 2007, according to market researcher Euromonitor International.

这家法国零售商正在努力提振在世界第一大食品杂货市场的业务。家乐福近年来在中国一直在节节后退。据市场研究公司欧睿信息咨询(Euromonitor International)的数据，在中国分散且竞争激烈的大型食品杂货零售商市场，该公司所占的销售份额从2007年的9.1%降至去年的8.1%。

Analysts say Carrefour is trying to refocus its business in markets with higher growth potential, such as China and Latin America. Meanwhile, the retailer over the past six months sold its operations in Indonesia and Malaysia and shut its Singapore stores. A spokeswoman for Carrefour said the company is looking to increase its business in China and has recently rolled out more in-store sales and promotions.

分析人士说，家乐福正在努力将业务重心重新放到具有更高增长潜力的市场，比如中国和拉美。与此同时，这家零售商过去六个月中出售了印尼和马来西亚的业务，并关闭了新加坡的门店。家乐福发言人说，该公司正在寻求扩大在华业务，最近推出了更多店内打折销售和促销活动。

Taiyuan pricing officials said they began examining Carrefour last week after receiving complaints from consumers who claimed they were overcharged on products such as chocolate bars.

太原市物价局的官员说，他们接到顾客投诉后，上周开始对家乐福进行检查；顾客投诉说，他们在购买巧克力棒等产品时，家乐福收取的价格比价签上标明的要高。

Foreign retailers have been under scrutiny in China. Last year, authorities in the southwestern city of Chongqing arrested and detained Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT -1.75% employees and temporarily closed company stores in the city after allegations the retailer tagged ordinary pork as a more expensive organic variety. Authorities decided not to press charges against the employees and released them.

外国零售商在中国一直受到严格检查。去年，在中国西南城市重庆，有顾客投诉沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)给普通猪肉贴上价格更高的有机猪肉的标签，有关部门随后逮捕并拘留了多名沃尔玛员工，并暂时关闭了重庆的沃尔玛门店。有关部门决定不对沃尔玛员工提出指控，之后将其释放。

Scott Price, Wal-Mart's head of Asia, said in April that he didn't believe Chongqing's reaction to the labeling matter was disproportionate. 'We needed to make a change,' he said.

沃尔玛亚洲总裁贝思哲(Scott Price)今年4月说，他认为重庆市有关部门对沃尔玛标签问题的反应并不过分。他说，我们需要作出改变。

The U.S.-based retailer responded by retraining staff members. It also set up a new international compliance structure to oversee food safety at its outlets.

这家美国零售商对标签问题作出反应，对员工进行了重新培训。该公司还建立了一个新的国际合规体系来监督门店的食品安全。

Carrefour said in October its expansion in China offset a slowdown in consumption in the third quarter. The company, which operates more than 200 stores in China, doesn't break out quarterly revenue by country. Sales in 2011 from China rose 7.8% to 4.34 billion ($5.62 billion). Carrefour plans to open 24 stores in China next year.

家乐福今年10月说，三季度在华业务的扩张抵消了消费的放缓。该公司在中国运营着200多家门店，它通常不披露在各国的季度收入。2011年家乐福在华销售额增长7.8%，至43.4亿欧元（合56.2亿美元）。家乐福计划明年在华新增24家门店。

Third-quarter revenue from the company's Asia stores rose 12% from a year earlier to 2.27 billion.

三季度家乐福亚洲门店收入同比增长12%，至22.7亿欧元。