The numerous creditor banks of the French bazaar brand Gifi have decided in favor of the safeguard plan drawn up jointly by AlixPartners and Philippe Brochard, the former CEO of Auchan France, and supported by Philippe Ginestet, its founder and main shareholder. . A support far from being symbolic since Philippe Ginestet would have committed to reinjecting a very large sum into the company (estimated at 270 million euros by our colleague “La Lettre”) which he certainly does not wish to see sold to the cutting. Under pressure from the banks who made it a primary condition, he also agreed to hand over control of his company to the turnaround team formed by AlixPartners and Philippe Brochard and to withdraw, he and his son, from any operational and executive.
Concretely and barring a last minute reversal, the former boss of Auchan France should take the helm of the champion of French low prices, from Monday January 20, with the titles of CEO and corporate officer, accompanied by the AlixPartners teams. This transitional management must operate for a few months, before the arrival, as our colleague “La Lettre” revealed today, of a new CEO, François de Castelnau, current deputy general director of Showroomprivé. However, he should not take office before 3 months. Time for the new management team to launch the most urgent restructuring projects, in particular those concerning the organization of the group's headquarters, which employs around 700 employees in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, and the company's sourcing, based in China. The store teams would not be affected.
Many more low prices
The overhaul of the tech part of the French bazaar brand, battered in particular by the poorly managed integration of a new information system in the company, will also be at the top of the agenda. Just like the offer which will be reworked. In fact, the end of the move upmarket which cut the brand off from its core customer base. Gifi had, little by little, given up on many of its low prices and at one point only offered a few hundred items for less than 1 euro compared to around 6,000 for its great rival Action. The differential should be filled very quickly according to our sources. This while the market is seeing a surge of offers from Chinese e-retailers at discounted prices, Tému and Shein.
