The management of Auchan Retail presented this Tuesday to the social partners the details of the various measures intended to initiate a “new commercial project, more attractive price positioning and an overhaul of its model”.
“So many positions eliminated at once, we have never seen thatsighs Quentin Leclerc, Force Ouvrière central union delegate and elected CSE for the Montpellier area. Until then, when there were staff reductions, we did not go beyond a thousand”. The blow is hard for the staff representatives, as expressed by the elected FO of the Pérols hypermarket, near Montpellier.
The management of Auchan Retail presented its plan to the social partners on Tuesday. “return to growth”. It plans to eliminate a total of 2,389 positions nationwide, which represents 5% of its 54,000 employees. A necessary evil for management, which specifies having suffered, since 2012, a “constant drop in store traffic“, but also a “degradation” of its results.
Market shares declining since 2012
Auchan thus saw its market share fall from 12.1% to 8% over the period. Its revenues fell by 2.26 billion euros, in a context “ultra-competitive”. It was therefore necessary to initiate a “profound transformation” of its model, a bit like what Carrefour initiated around ten years ago to overcome the crisis it was going through at the time.
The plan concocted by Auchan Retail is based on three orientations. The first aims to “improve the customer experience”. It is about “develop the commercial project in its hypermarkets and supermarkets”. Non-food will thus see its place greatly reduced, in favor of the food offer, to offer an offer “essentialized on everyday products”.
Reduction in size of around sixty stores
The second aims to “return to a more attractive price positioning”. To do this, the brand intends to capitalize on the alliance it has just established with Intermarché. But that cannot be enough. She must also “lower costs” et “simplify your organization”. Finally, the third ambition is “to invent new store models”.
The brand is, in fact, “structurally too present in large hypermarkets”. About sixty of them will be “resized”. This will be the case, by 2026, for those of Perpignan and Pérols, which will lose 2,517 m² and 4,723 m² respectively. “The question is currently being asked about what we want to do with the surfaces that will be released”specifies Arnaud Dekmeer, central union delegate FO Auchan.
Job creations accompany the reorganization
The details of the store-by-store job cuts should be specified on Wednesday. According to our information, the Pérols store should lose around ten jobs, the Perpignan store around a dozen. “If we look at what management wants to do with the new store formats, the calculation would be quickly done”suggests Hervé Louboutin, former CGT regional delegate for the sector, trade coordinator in Hérault within the union center.
Michelin will close two of its factories in France
Michelin announced on Tuesday its intention to close, by early 2026, its sites in Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) and Vannes (Morbihan), which employ 1,254 employees, due to competition from low-cost Asian tires and of the rise in energy prices in Europe. The entire European automotive sector is currently facing a combination of difficulties: market decline, energy transition and Chinese competition. “In recent years, the European markets for passenger, light truck and truck tires have undergone a profound transformation, moving strongly towards low-cost tires mainly from Asia”explained Michelin in a press release. “The remarkable commitment of the teams and the efforts of the group were not enough to preserve the viability of these two sites, heavily impacted by […] the deterioration of Europe's competitiveness, particularly due to inflation and the rise in energy prices”he added. On the Cholet site, whose production was temporarily stopped during the announcements, general meetings of employees were to be held Tuesday afternoon, two unions said. Furthermore, the French Minister of Industry, Marc Ferracci, said on Tuesday that he regretted Michelin's decision to close the Cholet and Vannes factories and called for a support plan. “copy” employees and territories.
Indeed, he recalls, “the model is a store of 8,000 m² maximum with 160 employees. That is a ratio of 2 employees per m². The one in Béziers, where I am, is 11,000 m² for 340 employees”. Result : “we would increase to 220 employees, a loss of 120 positions”. We are of course not there yet. But this analysis reflects the concern of the social partners. Even if Auchan Retail takes care to specify that job creations would accompany the planned reorganizations.
