France: supermarkets celebrate Ramadan without naming it

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Practicing Muslims purchase more food during Ramadan, and yet French retailers still don’t dare to explicitly include this holiday in their marketing strategies. Instead, they invoke cultural exoticism to attract all types of clientele.

August 1 marked the beginning of Ramadan, a month of fasting practiced by 71 percent of France’s five million Muslims, according to an Ifop poll. Practicing Muslims aren’t allowed to drink water or eat any food from sunrise to sunset but once the night comes, they make up for the day’s fast.

Ramadan creates consumer demand which interests supermarkets. The halal market in France is estimated at five billion euros in 2010 according to the Solis agency, which is more than kosher or organic food.

Even though stores display special offers during Ramadan, almost all supermarkets in France avoid using the term “Ramadan” in their promotional catalogues.

Instead they use expressions such as “oriental flavors,” (Leclerc, Cora), “an invitation to the palace of deliciousness” (Carrefour) or “One thousand and one delights” (Lidl).

“Oriental flavors”: ravioli and lasagna

“Muslims descend from Aladin!” joked Fateh Kimouche, manager of the Al-Kanz website dedicated to Muslim consumers. “By looking at these catalogues, one would think that Ramadan is necessarily an “Arab thing”, forgetting converts, sub-Saharans, Eastern Europeans and Turks along the way.”

Every year, Kimouche underlines the incoherences of the different promotional catalogues on his site. “The term “Oriental flavors” is used as a fig leaf to avoid saying Ramadan,” said Kimouche. “And yet you also find ravioli, pizzas and halal lasagna in these catalogues. I didn’t know Italy was in the Middle-East!”

His website also points out the wine bottles next to halal meat in catalogues and to inflatable dromedaries and cardboard palm trees in stores. “It’s kitsch and ridiculous. I’m not saying supermarkets have to create promotional offers or special shelves for Ramadan. That’s a commercial choice, but if they go in for this niche, they should do it well.”

“Supermarkets’ priority is to sell”

Supermarkets deny any cold feet when it comes to Ramadan. “We launched Carrefour’s halal brand at the start of the year, which is the only brand of halal products to carry the name of a large retailer,” said a Carrefour representative. “This answers to the accusations of timidity.”

Auchan, another important French retailer, wants to reach the largest clientele possible. “Our products can also interest non-Muslims and anyone who doesn’t celebrate Ramadan,” said an Auchan spokesperson.

Florence Bergeaud-Blacker, a researcher at the Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Muslim World at the University of Provence favors this explanation. “Supermarkets didn’t know how to invest in this new market without being criticized for proselytism or look like they’re promoting a religion that’s unpopular among part of the population,” she said.

“They have chosen an “oriental culture” marketing strategy whose colonial feel is highly resented by the Muslims but is more acceptable to non-Muslims. But Muslims will buy anyway and supermarkets draw in consumers attracted to culinary exoticism,” said Bergeaud-Blacker.

“Let’s not forget that supermarkets’ priority is to sell so they want to avoid communitarian or religious quarrels. You can’t say they’re being hypocritical. They’re simply enforcing commercial strategies.”

“The non-Muslim population’s reaction can’t be neglected”

“Supermarkets have no qualms about promoting offers for Christmas, Easter or the Chinese New Year,” said Essec marketing professor Cedomir Nestorovic, author of “Marketing in an Islamic Environment” (Dunod, 2009). “The products will be available in stores in any case. Their question is: should we a have a marketing strategy for them? If so, what? ”

“In the past few years the consensus has been to keep a low profile around this holiday because French society isn’t ready yet, » Nestorovic says. He used the controversial decision of the French fast-food chain Quick to offer halal meals as an example. « Halal has become more usual in the last few years but the Quick uproar shows the non-Muslim population’s reaction can’t be neglected. So retailers approach these issues very prudently. »

Among large French retailers, only Grand Frais, Casino and its hard-discount subsidiary Leader Price offer special Ramadan catalogues. When asked about this strategic decision, Casino declined to answer.

Nestorovic offers an explanation. “Casino is implanted in Golf countries under the brand Géant, so it’s good for their image in this zone to launch a halal brand, recruit a halal product manager and print Ramadan catalogues in France.” However, the researcher admits that Carrefour, also present in Arab countries, is a counter-example since the retailer never mentions Ramadan in its French stores.

Will Casino’s position boost other national retailers’ confidence on the issue? “Things will only change through a wider acceptance of the Muslim religion in our society,” said Nestorovic.

According to Bergeaud-Blacker, it’s more likely that this market will develop in neighborhood shops. “This enables them to differentiate and target specific geographic zones, as opposed to what larger retail stores do, but it will have the negative effect of maintaining Muslim populations, already concentrated in certain zones, separate.”

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