French boycotts: which brands are at risk of being hit by boycott calls in Muslim countries?

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s call for a boycott of French products on Monday also put French products on the agenda in some Muslim-dominated countries. Although no French company has so far reported a negative situation due to the call to boycott, some companies operating in the automotive, retail and cosmetics sectors are quite strong in some markets.

So, can brands be affected by this boycott?

The automotive sector of the French brand Renault, Citroen and Peugeot has an important share of the cake in Turkey.

Renault totaled 60,000 668 units last year during car sales in Turkey and achieved a market share of 15.7 percent in total.

Being the market leader for the twentieth time in 2019, Renault had 2 of the top 3 best-selling cars in the country in the same year.

The brand ended the first half of 2020 as a leader in the passenger car market with 49,131 sales and 17.8 market shares.

The most favorite Turkish models in the Oyak Renault Clio HB 2 factory produced ranking, while the Megane Sedan # 3 took place.

Citroen, on the other hand, increased its market share to 2.5% with 12,033 sales at the end of 2019.

Peugot again in Turkey with the highest number of second-hand Renault sales is among the 10 brands.

Reporters from the Reuters news agency said in a study conducted in Kuwait that L’Oreal-branded products were offloaded from store shelves.

However, it is stated that L’Oreal is unlikely to be affected by this boycott.

Together with the African continent, the Middle East accounts for around 2% of L’Oreal’s total market share.

A similar situation is true for many of the major French fashion brands. The Middle East represents a small fraction of sales compared to the US, Asia or European markets.

Although many Arab cities have brand stores such as Louis Vuitton or Chanel, locals tend to consume these brands from overseas.

Brands such as Hermes, Yves Saint-Laurent, Givenchy, Chanel, Lancome, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin and Pierre Hardy are among other world-famous luxury consumer products.

The French energy giant Total is present in many Muslim-majority countries.

Peygamer Muhammad’s cartoons depicting the country’s response against France, which is the most active in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey in total, focusing mainly on petrochemicals and petroleum products to sell.

In Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf countries, Total also has investments in exploration, production and, in some cases, energy purification.

One of the targets of the calls for a boycott in Saudi Arabia is the supermarket chain Carrefour.

A campaign to keep consumers out of their stores was a trend in Saudi social media over the weekend.

The French retail chain operates in many parts of the Middle East and South Asia with partnerships through a branch opening agreement called a “franchise”.

In some countries, including Pakistan, Lebanon and Bahrain, a single partner holds the franchise rights of Carrefour.

According to Reuters reporters who visited two Carrefour stores, which have a regular density in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, the density in the stores continues.

A company representative in Paris said Carrefour’s boycott calls had so far had no effect.

Many supermarket chains such as Dia, Endi and Gima also serve at different points.

France is the European leader in agricultural production. According to the ANIA Industry Lobby report, only 3 percent of the country’s agricultural exports go to the Middle East market.

Algeria is France’s largest customer, with $ 1.4 billion in imports.

France is one of the main arms exporters in the world.

The Thales company sells a considerable amount of weapons, aviation technology and public transport systems to Muslim countries.

According to the company’s website among customers in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar available.

Egypt and Qatar are among the countries that have ordered Rafale military jets from Dassault, which sees the region as an important market for private jets.