Denis Defforey (July 7, 1925 - February 6, 2006) was a French businessman. He was the co-founder of

Carrefour Carrefour Group, S.A. (, ), is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, Essonne, Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 ...

, and its chief executive officer from 1985 to 1990.

Biography

At the dawn of the 1960s, the Defforey family managed a food wholesale business in the French

Ain Ain (, ; ) is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

region. They met the dry goods store owner Marcel Fournier and they pooled their expertise to launch a discount store in

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

. Defforey was first in charge of the food sections. With his brother Jacques Defforey and Marcel Fournier, Denis Defforey traveled to the United States in the early 1960s to study and export the new models of superstores. They were trained by

Bernardo Trujillo Bernardo Trujillo (1920–1971) was a Colombian-born American marketing executive. He hosted merchandizing seminars as part of cash register company NCR Corporation's marketing strategy, ultimately influencing the development of modern supermarke ...

. With the explicit goal to go after the new E.Leclerc stores, they opened the first Carrefour superstore in 1963 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois. Denis Defforey was president of the group Carrefour from 1985 to 1990. He remained on the supervisory board of Carrefour until 1995. After the merger of Carrefour and

Promodès Promodès is a former French group of retailers. It was owned up to 56% by the Halley family. Paul-Auguste Halley, which was a simple grocer in the Manche in the 1950s, had the idea of importing the concept of supermarkets in France. With his ...

in 1999, the Defforey family's 18% shares in Carrefour were diluted. Defforey distanced himself from the new direction. His son Hervé Defforey was the group's number 2 until 2001. The Defforey family remained minor shareholders of the group Carrefour until 2004.

References

1925 births 2006 deaths People from Lagnieu French chief executives French company founders Carrefour people {{France-business-bio-stub