Foreign Perspectives

Unlike in the UK, you can’t just lift a leaflet, fill it in and post it. You have to queue up at the customer services desk and most of the time they require proof of ID and often proof of address before they’ll issue you with a card.

Although they have the cards, they don’t use them to promote the various shops nearly as much as they do in the UK. For instance, whereas when you get your Tesco statement, there are perhaps a dozen different offers on products, in Carrefour you just get a voucher to spend in the shop. Leclerc and Auchan don’t even send a statement as the money accumulates directly on their cards (which therefore require a PIN).

In fact, to date the only shop that seems to actually use the information is Auchan which managed to issue us with a credit card based on next to no information.

At least this is one area where we’re quite grateful that the French are a little backward!