Auchan and Carrefour in turmoil

According to the Kantar Worldpanel’s monthly study for November, the ‘yellow vests’ movement has had…

According to the Kantar Worldpanel’s monthly study for November, the ‘yellow vests’ movement has had a considerable impact on the retail trade.

While distributors such as Intermarché, Système U and Leclerc, managed to do relatively well, Auchan and Carrefour lost many customers.

Since the beginning of the year, there has been a noticeable drop in attendance at supermarkets of more than 25,000 square feet. The ‘yellow vests’ movement seems to have accentuated the difficulties of the sector.

Gaëlle Le Floch, director of strategic studies at Kantar, explains that “the revenue growth for the so-called generalists which include supermarkets, hypermarkets, hard discounters, convenience stores and internet, has not exceeded 0.8% since January, compared to the yearly 1 to 2% of the past eight years. The French’s consumption of mass market products rose by 0.7% in November, a growth two times lower than observed in the past twelve months. French consumers have also bought fewer products (-0.9%), a trend which started in January but accelerated in November.” These figures can be partly explained by a shift in the French’s consumption towards biological and local products which are often more expensive.

We also observe a switch from offline to online shopping : internet sales went up 8.8% in November, compared to 6.5% at the beginning of the year. French consumers seem to no longer take the time to go to the hypermarkets. Only the supermarkets are still popular and their market share increases.

Mrs Le Foch: “Carrefour and Auchan, which have the largest hypermarket centers, were already not doing so great. During this period of protests, they lost some market shares as the roundabouts leading to the shopping centers where their hypermarkets are located, were blocked by the ‘yellow vests’.”