The renewal – that is the name of its strategic plan – was necessary for the Casino group, which was about to go off the road at the beginning of 2024 and was forced to urgently sell all its hypermarkets and supermarkets. Less than eight months after the arrival at the helm, on March 27, of its new shareholder (a consortium led by businessman Daniel Kretinsky), the group presented, on Thursday, November 14, its main three-year guidelines, which will allow it to return to balance in 2026. The objective of the distributor, whose business volume (including the business volume of its franchisees) has been reduced by almost half in one year – going from 20 to 13 thousand million euros – is to reach 15 billion euros in 2028, with an operating profit of 500 million euros.
Freed from the large stores it owned (425 establishments as of September 2023), Casino has become a group where 83% of the 7,700 points of sale are now in the hands of franchisees: 50% in Monoprix, 76% in Franprix and 92%. . in Casino, Vival or Spar. “We are not a group of brands, but a group of brands (Monoprix, Franprix, Naturalia, Casino, Vival, Spar, Cdiscount)”Philippe Palazzi, general director, insisted on Thursday.
Their priority is to focus on local commerce: “Forty-two million French people are less than ten minutes from one of our stores”and Cdiscount is “in your pocket via cell phone”. The man who spent much of his career at Metro summarizes his objective as follows: “You have to differentiate everything that is seen from the client’s point of view and share everything that is not seen. » In short, as in the textile sector, he explains: a customer can go to two stores, one Claudie Pierlot and the other Sandro, on the same street, without knowing that they belong to the same group.
The offer of takeaway fast food will be expanded in stores. “My direct competitor is Cojean or Prêt à Manger. Monoprix must be able to offer a coffee with milk for 4 euros tomorrow”Palazzi specified. At the same time, its points of sale will emphasize the development of services: rental of a raclette machine or a drill for the weekend, delivery lockers for online trading platforms, but also cash withdrawal at the checkout, when paying card purchases. in rural areas where ATMs and post offices have disappeared.
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