France news 

Carrefour reported total sales rose 5.5%, at constant exchange rates, to €19.7 bn, with like-for-likes rising 8.4% in its third quarter. The retailer said its growth was its ‘ best performance in at least 20 years ’. The positive results were broad based, with most markets and channels seeing growth, and came despite ‘ an unfavourable petrol effect ’ and ‘ an unfavorable exchange rate effect ’...

As Carrefour acquires an organic specialist in France and expands its online delivery options in Poland, we round up new initiatives from the retailer in Europe. Carrefour acquires organic specialist in France… Carrefour has acquired the Bioazur chain of five stores through its So.bio subsidiary. Bioazur operates stores in the southwest of France and helps build its presence in the organic ...

Casino-owned Monoprix has opened its first unstaffed store, under the Monop’ Box brand. The store is being trialed at the retailer’s headquarters, with Monoprix noting that the technology used by the store also able to be scaled up to its wider estate. The retailer said the Box will be repositioned from its headquarters to a site accessible by the public as part of a ‘live’ test. Contactles...

As Auchan looks to roll out more Pedestrian Drives in France and its operation in Poland grows its revenues, we round up news from the retailer. Auchan plans large-scale roll out of Pedestrian Drives As it looks to first catch up and then overtake its competitors, as part of its digitalisation drive in its 2022 transformation plan, Auchan has committed to opening 300 pedestrian Drives in 20...

In recent years Aldi Nord’s group sales have grown at around 2%, one of the slowest rates in the discount channel globally. The AniKo concept, launched in 2016, was expected to drive a recovery in growth and has required billions to be invested to upgrade the store network. However, the slow pace to add new and more varied products to the assortment, the growing competition and pricing pressures ...

As Carrefour continues to drive change across its operations in Europe, we round up developments from France, Belgium, Italy, Poland, and Spain. Carrefour France enjoyed a good summer In an interview with local trade publication LSA, the managing director of Carrefour France, Rami Baitiéh, discussed the retailer’s performance over summer 2020, given the challenging operating environment. Ba...

In an interview in local trade publication LSA and in a subsequent press release, Auchan France has set out how it is aiming to implement the key initiatives set out in the 2022 transformation plan. Retailer to focus on five strategic priorities In the interview with LSA, Auchan Retail France’s chief executive, Jean-Denis Deweine, set out how it was looking to drive growth by concentrating ...

As Carrefour looks to drive online growth and add further digital solutions in-store, we look at four developments from its operations in France, Poland and Romania. Carrefour’s first robotic pedestrian drive enters service in Paris Carrefour has recently introduced its first robotic pedestrian drive in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. The system behind the pedestrian drive has been deploy...

Auchan has released first half results which it says show a ‘ significant improvement in profitability ’, which has been helped by the implementation of its Renaissance initiative. The retailer reported that while total sales fell by 1.8%, group EBITDA increased by 14.9%, with its EBITDA margin reaching 5.6%. Revenue growth seen in most markets Auchan reported revenue fell by 1.8%, at curre...

In its Q3 2019/20 results, Metro reported a 17.5% decrease in like-for-like (LFL) sales, compared to the previous year, driven by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its negative impacts on the hospitality sector. However, as of July this year, Metro noted that sales had recovered to the previous year’s level in its Hotels, restaurants and catering (HoReCa) division. Germany: like-for-like...