produits de la mer - n°200 - Avril-mai 2020 - 106

Special feature ❘ MEDIUM AND LARGE SIZE SUPERMARKETS

Hypermarket:
the end of a business model ?

❘ 106 ❘ PRODUITS DE LA MER N°200 APRIL-MAY 2020

25,7

%
of French consumers
say they have
confidence in private
labels in the first
half of 2019.
This is 0.8 pt more
than in 2018,
but 2.9 pts less
than in 2013.
Source: Kantar Prométhée.

es hypermarchés nouvelle génération soignent
leur zone « marché », dont le rayon marée. En
témoigne ce rayon « trad » du nouveau Leclerc
Express Saint-Grégoire (qui a pris la place de l'ancien Géant). Plus généralement, sur les produits
aquatiques, « la part du frais emballé progresse.
On observe un recul transversal sur le surgelé.
Les conserves baissent en tant qu'entrée, mais se
réinventent en apéritif et en plat, indique Franck
Gardillou. La croissance du frais et du traiteur se
fait via le plat principal. »

chain stores (+1.4 point for E. Leclerc, +0.1
pt for U, +0.1 pt for Intermarché) and one
discount store: +0.4 pt for Lidl. And this is
probably not due to chance. " The chain
stores which gained ground in the first
half of 2019 are mostly price and promotion-oriented," explained Franck Gardillou
de Kantar, at the technical-scientific seminar organized by France Filière Pêche on
last 12th of November. And this at a time
when the " Etats généraux de l'alimentation " (national symposium about food) are
now supervising promotions more closely.
Another change: a consequence of the
"eating better trend" is shopping fragmentation. Hypermarkets and supermarkets

L.F.

n crisis" according to BFM (Tv
Channel), "in danger" according to
the newspaper Le Figaro and even
"doomed" according to RMC (Radio
station): for the mainstream media,
2019 would see the end of the hypermarket business model. The first hypermarket in France was the Carrefour store
at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (91), opened in 1963 and "hypermarkets" have
long symbolized the success of French
mass distribution. But today, there is
no denying that they are encountering
serious difficulties. Following a net loss
of 1.1 billion euros in 2018, the Auchan
holding company (which makes 80%
of its turnover with hypermarkets) lost
another 1.5 billion in the first half of
2019. A considerable amount! In this
context, the sale of 21 sites (with 700
to 800 employees) was announced in
April 2019. In addition, on January the
14th 2020, 517 jobs were cut in support services. Casino and Carrefour are
also encountering problems resulting in
cost-saving measures. Casino had to sell
off around twenty Géant hypermarkets
last year. Carrefour (which recorded a
net loss of 561 million euros in 2018)
announced the loss of 1,230 jobs in
2019. Around forty Carrefour hypermarkets have been concerned by the
"Rebond" plan which means that if
their performance does not improve,
they will have to close.
However, some companies are managing to play their cards right. According to
Kantar, the market share by value between
the first semester of 2018 and the first
semester of 2019 increased for three

Et les poissons dans tout ça ?

The chain stores Auchan,
Casino or Carrefour
have announced drastic
cost-saving plans.
Central buying groups
are restructuring and
E-commerce or discount
stores are on a roll.

Hypers and supers suffer from competition from specialized brands.

have to compete with retailers specialising
in fresh produce (e.g. Grand Frais), organic
products (such as Biocoop), etc. Not forgetting e-commerce.
By 2025, at a global level, the
Omnichannel report 2019 (Kantar, GFK,
Intage) anticipates that e-commerce and
discount stores should continue to grow
worldwide, while hypermarkets and supermarkets will lose ground. French chain
stores are already interested in new concepts: small restaurants, proximity, but also
"soft discount". Carrefour opened its first
Supéco store in September 2019. The offer,
which includes organic products, is 10%
cheaper and intends to compete with Lidl.
Central purchasing groups have also
undergone major changes over recent
years. In 2018, Système U (previously
allied with Auchan) and Carrefour, signed
a 5-year purchasing partnership, which is
being carried out via Envergure, their joint
structure. Auchan and Casino are now
allied within the Horizon purchasing group.
On its own, Leclerc comes in third place,
followed by the group Les Mousquetaires.
Allowing the retail chains to order larger
volumes and to have more weight in negotiations with their suppliers, these "super
buying groups" are in the sights of competition authorities. CNIBA, the former
buying group for Intermarché and Casino
(2014-2018), was recently investigated by
the European Commission. n

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