A massive social plan, as feared. The distributor Auchan, owned by the Mulliez family (which also owns Leroy Merlin and Decathlon), has been experiencing economic difficulties for several years. To remedy this, the group presented, Tuesday November 5 in the Lille region, an extraordinary social and economic committee (CSE) to make a “update on the company's situation and its projects”.
The resulting decision was announced to employee representatives of all group entities in France. It threatens 2,389 jobs, notably via the closure of around ten stores. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about this social plan.
Record losses
The group has been facing difficulties for several years. Over the first six months of 2024, its holding company Elo suffered a net loss of almost a billion euros. Last year, it suffered a net loss of 379 million euros with declining sales. Thus, at the last count, in June, Auchan's market share was 9.1%, far behind E.Leclerc (24.1%), Carrefour (21.4%), Mousquetaires/Intermarché (17.4%). %) and Cooperative U (12.2%). A rate which leaves it less room for maneuver in its negotiations with agro-industrial suppliers.
This downgrading is “the confirmation of this bad situation and in particular of the two years of inflation which followed Covid and which did not go very well for Auchan”analysis on franceinfo Frank Rosenthal, trade marketing expert. He recalls that, over the last ten years, Auchan's turnover has only increased in 2022, before falling again in 2023, when in the same period, “Leclerc gained 6 billion euros in additional turnover”.
To carry more weight, Auchan joined forces with its competitor Intermarché to buy together in an alliance for ten years, an unusually long period. In addition, the group which owns its stores, with very few franchises, suffers from competition from E.Leclerc and Coopérative U, which reduce operating costs and can sell their products at more competitive prices.
Another weak point of Auchan: the size of its stores. The group has historically focused on the hypermarket format, which offers the largest sales area. However, this format is less popular today. “There has been a change in consumer behavior, particularly in non-food which was a very strong part of Auchan”also observes Frank Rosenthal. The latter points out that the group has decided to reduce its offering in this area in its stores: “They thought that almost everything was going to be on the internet, which was not the case.”
More than 2,300 jobs lost
Today, the group has 54,000 employees in France. The extraordinary CSE announced the elimination of 2,389 jobs. In detail, Auchan plans to eliminate 784 positions within its headquarters and 915 in stores. It records the cessation of direct home delivery activity, which would result in 224 job cuts. Management also intends to close around ten unprofitable points of sale (i.e. 466 positions eliminated), including three hypermarkets in Clermont-Ferrand Nord (Puy-de-Dôme), Woippy (Moselle) and Bar-le-Duc (Meuse). , and in a supermarket, in Aurillac (Cantal).
A previous job protection plan (PSE) resulted in the elimination of 1,475 positions in September 2020, after a voluntary departure plan of more than 500 positions in January of the same year. “I know that we are not in an easy economic period, but to have figures like that…”Fabien Alliata, CFDT central services union delegate, declared to AFP on Monday, while a reduction of 2,300 positions had been announced by the press agency and the investigative media The Letter.
Smaller stores to stem the crisis
After the fall of the Saint-Etienne Casino group, another food distribution brand is going through great difficulties. To avoid finding yourself in the same situation as your competitor, you will have to “solve the problem of large hypermarkets”assure Frank Rosenthal. “We lose customers because they no longer have” want to “wasting their time. Today, they prefer to go to slightly smaller areas”Djamal Otmani explains to franceinfo, CFTC central union delegate. “It’s up to us to transform and adapt”he adds.
The group announced in July that it wanted to reduce the sales area of a third of its hypermarkets in Europe (excluding Russia, where the Mulliez group is still present), or ultimately a “average reduction of 25%” of these areas. The unions also fear the growth of franchised stores, one of the avenues considered by management, which could contribute to worsening the social plan. For “supermarkets have already been announced”recalled René Carrette, CFDT delegate, to France Bleu Nord on Tuesday. But Auchan wants “go as far as possible on the franchise and we expect that, subsequently, it will be the hypermarkets”due to “the decline in square meters” stores, estimates the union representative. “There is no direction, there is no one at the helm, it is unclear”he is alarmed.
