Will Auchan bury the hypermarket model and some of its jobs? This has been the concern of the employees of the northern distributor for several weeks, since the Mulliez family distribution group revealed, during the summer, the general outlines of its latest shock treatment to find its way back to the profitability: repositioning in prices. in France, adaptation of the hypermarket model, development of franchises… These advertisements, distributed sparsely in the middle of summer, quickly made the unions fear massive job cuts in a group that has 59,000 people in France and 160,000 throughout the world. world.
Staff representatives hoped to gain clarity on the impact on employment on Wednesday 9 October at a meeting with management on business strategy. But their questions went unanswered, as management suggested the information would be provided on a site-by-site basis, based on its labor turnover rate.
However, the financial situation is catastrophic: Auchan’s turnover (excluding countries at war) continued to fall, by 3.3% in the first half. The drop reached 4.7% in France after a 2.7% drop in 2023. At the end of July, the company justified these results with the competition. “best positioned in price and formats” and for a “disconsumption phenomenon” which affects more “Hypermarkets (–5.2%), more exposed to non-food products” that “supermarkets (–1.6%)”. Results that translated into a loss of almost one billion euros for its parent company ELO, which groups Auchan and its territorial activities. So even within the Mulliez family we wonder how not to draw a parallel with the sudden collapse of the Casino group which led to the sale of all its hypermarkets and supermarkets at the beginning of the year.
At the center of the recovery plan led by Guillaume Darasse, who since the end of August has held the position of CEO of Auchan Retail and president of Auchan Retail France: a strategic project called “DNA” capable of modifying the genetic fingerprint of a distributor that has made large hypermarkets its trademark. It involves reducing sales areas in a third of its hypermarkets in all its European countries. “In total, this plan will mean an average reduction of 25% in sales areas and the hypermarket park will finally be made up of around 70% of stores with a surface area less than or equal to 10,000 square meters”Auchan indicated in July. All this gradually until 2027, at a rate of 50,000 to 100,000 square meters less per year.
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